Dr. Emily Landon, an infectious disease specialist and Executive Medical Director for Infection Prevention and Control at the University of Chicago Medical Center, has found herself on a Professor Watchlist created by Turning Point USA. Her status on this watchlist is a consequence of the work she has conducted on COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, and her willingness to publicly speak out regarding the United States’ response to the pandemic.
However, her status on this watchlist has failed to stifle her stark criticisms of the second Trump administration, particularly its decision to cut billions of dollars in federal public health funding.
The announcement came in March, with the Department of Health and Human Services stating it would rescind nearly $12 billion in funds earmarked for infectious disease control, including coronavirus, measles, Candida auris, bird flu, sexually transmitted infections, and influenza.
These enormous cuts include $125 million in previously awarded funds to the Illinois Department of Public Health, and an additional $324 million in future funds promised to Illinois-based health centers.
The abrupt funding cuts have left healthcare workers and public health officials in Illinois in shock. As the state of public health funding is put into question, so is the state of public health itself. Without the funds necessary to continue research, maintain public health initiatives, and pay salaries, advancements will be halted, and lives will be put at serious risk.
One advancement at risk is the Regional Innovation Public Health Laboratory (RIPHL) which performs whole genome sequencing and molecular epidemiology for the identification and tracking of infectious diseases. Medical providers submit specimens to RIPHL which reports on the pathogen’s origin and transmission. The Laboratory performs predictive modeling techniques, informing public health officials where the next disease outbreak is likely to occur, and the steps needed to prevent it.
According to Dr. Landon, the Chicago Department of Public Health has come to rely heavily on this data to determine how to distribute its limited resources to have the greatest effect on public health outcomes.
The loss of this funding will be disastrous. RIPHL has already significantly reduced the number of specimens it accepts. This means outbreaks will be further along in their development before RIPHL can address them, resulting in delayed intervention and increased risk to public health.
RIPHL began operating in 2021 with significant investments in equipment to establish its pathogen surveillance abilities. Current funding cuts will only result in the loss of employees whose job it is to put this equipment to use. Without these funds, these vital public health tools will gather dust, representing a significant waste of previously spent federal dollars.
Another development now at risk is the Chicago Department of Public Health’s Rapid Response Team (RRT). This is a team of experts – including epidemiologists, infection preventionists, laboratory technicians, nurses, and doctors – tasked with traveling to places experiencing disease outbreaks and helping them control their spread.
Many healthcare facilities, such as hospitals and nursing homes, do not have the resources to staff their own infectious disease prevention teams. In those cases, the RRT comes into these facilities to address the outbreak without interrupting the facility’s operations. While the RRT was critical during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, they now address infectious diseases more broadly, identifying and controlling outbreaks before they become widespread.
Today, the RRT’s funding has been almost completely eliminated, leaving its future in question. With many healthcare facilities unable to perform this work on their own, Dr. Landon predicts the loss of funding will prevent many outbreaks from being identified, leading to worse public health outcomes.
In the midst of this chaos, Dr. Moira McNulty, another infectious disease specialist at UChicago Medicine, emphasized that the control and prevention of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) is at the greatest risk of being harmed due to these funding cuts in public health.
Unlike in the past, a Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) diagnosis is no longer a death sentence, as major breakthroughs in prevention, management, and care have been possible through public health funding. Advancements like progress in the efficacy of long-acting injectable treatment therapies or the development of an oral medication as a post-exposure prevention method have completely transformed the experience of living with HIV. With funding cuts, this progress is at risk.
Dr. McNulty has already witnessed the destruction firsthand. Her ongoing research project focusing on exploring implementation strategies for STI prevention methods has been stripped of its funding. While her team can analyze collected data, they cannot gather new data, grinding the project to a standstill. This will limit the number of new discoveries made and restrict researchers’ abilities to answer questions regarding the barriers to STI care, methods to raise awareness of treatment, and strategies to improve treatment accessibility.
Dr. Landon believes these cuts will also threaten healthcare workers providing care to STI patients. Most workers in this space are paid through federal funding. Without these funds, Dr. Landon fears the city of Chicago will lose over 80% of its HIV providers. This leaves the city scrambling to figure out how to retain these workers in the coming weeks.
Ultimately, this is only the beginning of a new era in Illinois’ public health sector. One where public health could be turned on its head if funds continue to be rescinded. We need people like Dr. Landon and Dr. McNulty who are willing to inform the public of the beneficial programs this funding makes possible and the dangerous risks that come with cutting it, regardless of their potential status on a partisan professor watchlist.