Shutting down the war on cancer
America’s cancer research system, which has helped save millions of lives, is under threat in one of its most productive moments.
The New York Times Magazine
September 14, 2025

In the cover story this weekend, Jonathan Mahler writes that in a matter of months, the Trump administration has canceled hundreds of millions of dollars in cancer-related research grants and contracts. He spoke to more than 50 members of the medical-research establishment who expressed deep concern about what these cuts would mean for future breakthroughs — particularly because we are in one of the most fertile periods in the history of cancer research. “It’s an absolutely unmitigated disaster,” one of them said. “It will take decades to recover from this, if we ever do.”

TAKEAWAYS

A desk in a laboratory covered with scientific equipment: glass sample vials, tubing connected to gas valves in the wall, labeled bottles, a flask with a plsatic funnel in its mouth, electronic equipment of unknown purpose holding a shallow glass dish containing an amount of clear liquid.

How the Trump Administration Is Dismantling America’s Cancer-Research System

The cancer-research system, which has helped save millions of lives, is under threat in one of its most productive moments.

By Jonathan Mahler

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EPSTEIN INVESTIGATION

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Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office/Associated Press

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