Recently, the National Institutes of Health abruptly terminated my funding. Their explanation:
“Research programs based primarily on artificial and non-scientific categories, including amorphous equity objectives, are antithetical to the scientific inquiry, do nothing to expand our knowledge of living systems, provide low returns on investment, and ultimately do not enhance health, lengthen life, or reduce illness. Worse, so-called diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”) studies are often used to support unlawful discrimination on the basis of race and other protected characteristics, which harms the health of Americans.”
Letters like this are landing in the inboxes of researchers nationwide. Here’s why this rhetoric is not just misguided, but factually wrong