“I'm Worried About the Future of Virology”

The federal government has terminated numerous federally funded grants and contracts to Harvard and is scaling back investments in scientific and medical research across the country. In this series, Harvard Medical School scientists discuss how these actions are affecting their research and their labs.

Grant Yang studies viruses, including polio and measles, with the goal of understanding how these viruses are capable of infecting and causing devastating outbreaks around the world. His work is now at risk due to federal actions against Harvard.

As a PhD student, Yang is affected by cuts to federal funding. While training grants support his studies, research grants enable his work in the lab.

Yang, who will receive his degree from the Harvard Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, worries for the future of his PhD program and about the effect on his field of study.

“These training cuts and research cuts will limit the number of crucial discoveries in the field of virology,” he says. “This will have severe impacts in our response times to viral epidemics, outbreaks, and pandemics. This will have far-reaching consequences on both national health and global health as we try to combat these viral pathogens.” Hear more from Yang in the video below.