To the editor:

I, a medical doctor, have learned recently about an encounter with modern medicine. The technology sounded impressive. First there was a blood test. Then there were imaging processes — an MRI, sonography and a PET scan. There was a biopsy with an ingenious instrument. There might be radiation treatment of various sorts and possibly chemotherapy, again with several choices. And last, but definitely not least, there was injectable lidocaine. The diagnosis not too long ago would have been very serious but the condition now is quite treatable.

None of this technology appeared on the scene fully developed. It all is the result of years or decades of basic science followed by clinical applications that evolved through a number of stages. Some of this was financed by for-profit companies though they may well have had some government grants. A significant amount of the research undoubtedly was financed by the federal government through grants, contracts and work in government laboratories such as NIH.

As of June 4 The New York Times found Donald Trump had canceled or delayed nearly 2,500 NIH grants on top of reducing NIH and CDC staff. Further massive cuts to research have been made since then. Research has been stopped, labs closed, researchers laid off. Post-grad students have left the country to continue their careers elsewhere. Our lost research capacity cannot be simply restarted; there will be a yearslong process of rebuilding. It will be a long time before our country again might be the leader in medical research. At what cost?

Joe Douglas,

Lawrence