“The NIH and a few other federal grantmakers inevitably set the tone at universities and medical schools around the country”
1/ The country’s largest private funder of medical research is the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, which boasts a $24.2 billion endowment. It’s America’s second wealthiest foundation.
The NIH, meanwhile, has an annual budget of $47.5 billion.
More:
Ryan McNeil, a professor at Yale School of Medicine who advises policymakers on “harm reduction and addiction treatment interventions,” conducts his research thanks to a $2.5 million R01 grant, the gold standard of National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding.
In July, as a part of his project, McNeil interviewedShawn Hill, cofounder of an organization that objects to concentrating addiction-related harm reduction services (e.g. safe injection sites) in neighborhoods like Harlem. Unsurprisingly, the two disagree, though the depth of philosophical disagreement only became explicit after the interview, when McNeil unintentionally broadcasted his unvarnished thoughts, revealing the political orientation of his taxpayer-funded project.
“That dude sucked,” McNeil groaned to his research assistant after Hill logged off, unaware that their transcription software would email all participants a recording of the entire call. “His primary concerns were basically around, frankly, white discomfort,” he later added. “Let’s try to get some more interviews with people who suck,” he said while wrapping up his unintentionally public debrief, “I want to find someone who we can give enough rope to hang themself with.”
KEY FINDINGS:
1. Ivy League payments and entitlements cost taxpayers $41.59 billion over a six-year period (FY2010-FY2015). This is equivalent to $120,000 in government monies, subsidies, & special tax treatment per undergraduate student, or $6.93 billion per year.
