How Academia Silenced the Advocates We Desperately Need to Defend Science
Institutions that claim to champion progress have sidelined the very leaders who could defend medicine. What went wrong?
As I walked into my office on last Friday morning after a long week on call in the hospital, it hit me.
For weeks, I’ve been watching from the sidelines as the science community refuses to fight back against the relentless attacks on medicine and scientific research.
They’re either waiting for a savior or pretending that the ivory tower will protect them from the world outside.
Academic leaders—those who should be sounding the alarm—act as if everything is fine.
But it isn’t.
And even if they did decide to fight back, they don’t have the tools.
Because academia trained them not to.
For decades, the system has made its own people inert to self-advocacy, stripping them of the ability to resist when the moment demands it.
Now, in just a matter of weeks, a hostile government administration has slashed research funding, frozen grants, and rescinded PhD program acceptances—all with the stroke of a pen.
Failure of Our Scientific Leaders
As medical students, we were told to focus on our studies—to stay in our lane.
Master anatomy, physiology, and pharmacology.
Learn the science and stay away from politics.
But for those of us who actually engage with patients beyond the 15 minutes allowed by insurance, that was never enough.
Science has always been deeply intertwined with policy, equity, and access.
You cannot treat diabetes without acknowledging food deserts.
You cannot combat cardiovascular disease without addressing environmental racism.
The same should be true for our scientific leaders.
Yet, the individuals running America’s research institutions have allowed this destruction to unfold under their watch.
Worse, they have silenced the very people—the canaries in the coal mine—who warned them decades ago about the rise of anti-science rhetoric.
They dismissed advocacy as a hobby, something as trivial as knitting in one’s spare time.
They believed that if they sacrificed a little—let go of diversity programs, erased focus on equity, stayed silent on attacks against LGBTQ+ scientists—then the “real” science would be left alone.
They were wrong.
Because once you give an inch, they take everything.
A Moment of Reckoning
The Trump administration’s NIH funding cuts, which have slashed overhead costs on grants from 60% to 15%, are poised to disrupt critical research and clinical trials .
Universities are already scrambling, some rescinding PhD program acceptances entirely.
The National Science Foundation has even paused grant payments, leaving researchers unpaid and halting key studies .
This is not just an attack on a budget—it is an attack on the future of medicine and science itself.
And the worst part?
The people who should have been prepared for this moment are paralyzed, watching from the sidelines.
The Path Forward
Until our scientific and medical leaders start valuing all science—not just the work that brings in the most grant money—this will keep happening.
Until advocacy is seen as essential to the survival of medicine, not just an extracurricular, we will continue losing ground.
Until we learn that protecting the most vulnerable in academia—minority scientists, LGBTQ+ researchers, and those studying topics deemed “controversial”—is the only way to protect all of science, we will keep repeating the same mistakes.
The time for waiting is over.
Academia must stop looking for a savior.
It must become the defense it so desperately needs.
Are we ready to fight for the future of science, or will we watch as another generation of researchers is erased?
Why The Advocacy Dose Matters
This is exactly why The Advocacy Dose exists.
Right now, the voices willing to push back against these attacks on science and medicine are few—and often drowned out. Traditional institutions are failing us, and many of the loudest voices in academia have either been silenced or have chosen silence themselves.
That’s why independent platforms like this newsletter are more important than ever. The Advocacy Dose is here to call out the erosion of medical and scientific leadership, to provide a space where advocacy is not just an afterthought but a core part of our work.
If you believe that science and medicine deserve to be defended, if you refuse to stand by while research is defunded and entire fields are gutted, then supporting spaces like this is critical.
Subscribe. Share. Speak out.
Because if we don’t build the platform to fight back, no one else will.
