The pause of billions of dollars in research funding to universities has had devastating effects on cancer research as lab work is put on hold and schools are halting the acceptance of new Ph.D. students.

The Trump administration’s war with higher education, combined with efforts to reduce government spending by the Department of Government Efficiency, has left significant casualties in cancer research, which in the U.S. is largely done at colleges and universities.

Experts fear four years of these sorts of attacks will take decades to recover from and stall the progress of treatments even as cancer rates rise.

“I see a large number of people who should be at the great universities over the next 10-15 years trying to figure out how to bail out right now, and I'm afraid we're going to lose a generation of America's best researchers, and that's going to be a huge setback for us,” said Otis Brawley, an expert in cancer prevention and control at Johns Hopkins University.

“It may take us 20-30 years to overcome three or four years of the scientific system being ignored, devalued and even harmed by some of the stuff that's going on now,” Brawley added.

Studies are getting hit on multiple fronts, particularly at schools being targeted by the administration due to alleged inaction on antisemitism or an unwillingness to meet President Trump's demands.

The president of Harvard University, which is suing over its cuts, has warned numerous times the billions of dollars in funding frozen will significantly affect medical advancements. In March, Harvard announced a hiring freeze amid the financial uncertainty under Trump.

And along with the school-specific funding blocks,........

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