Understanding Changes To Research Funding

  • In cancer research, government funding is particularly important in the discovery and in laboratory settings. This is where cuts in government funding could create problems, Dr. Paul Richardson, a medical oncologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, tells SurvivorNet Connect.
  • However, Dr. Richardson suggests that different sectors — including government, philanthropy, and the private sector (pharmaceutical industry) — can work together to ensure cancer research gets enough funding.

Recent major cuts to government institutions have left many Americans wary about the state of funding for things like cancer research. In a proposed budget for 2026, the federal government announced plans to slash billions in funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the U.S.’s medical research agency and the largest public funder of biomedical and behavioral research in the world.

While the budget is cause for some concern and may certainly disrupt research labs and planned studies across the U.S., Dr. Paul Richardson, a medical oncologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, tells SurvivorNet Connect that clinical research will still be possible through partnerships with the pharmaceutical industry and philanthropists.

“Where the government funding is particularly important is in discovery, and in bench work in the laboratory settings,” Dr. Richardson explains. “I think there, some of these cuts are going to be more challenging. Having said that, I think we’re all aware of the fact that there’s only so much that can go around.”

Where research funding falls short, donations from elsewhere can be helpful.

“We shouldn’t underestimate, in any way, the incredible value of philanthropy,” Dr. Richardson adds. “In the U.S. setting … philanthropy has been an absolute game-changer consistently so, throughout my experience as a clinical researcher.”

These sectors — government, philanthropy, and the private sector (pharma industry) — can, hopefully, work in tandem to keep research going and funded, he adds.