Open Letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner:



As an NIH Research Fellow, I am someone who is directly being affected by the government shutdown. I am writing this letter because I care deeply about my country and the government shutdown is hurting not only scientific researchers but ALL American Citizens.

In addition to damaging progress in nearly all areas of scientific research, the government shutdown has disabled the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) mission to seek fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems and the application of that knowledge to enhance our health, extend life, fight infectious and rare diseases, and reduce and prevent illness and disability.



While stalling research, the government shutdown is hurting the lives of thousands of American citizens, including NIH and other government funded researchers, by disrupting their ability to pay for housing, food, electricity, car insurance and medical bills. As a graduate researcher, my colleagues and I forego the higher incomes our talent could earn in the private industry, to solve issues of great public importance. I continue to work on problems I passionately care about: cancer research and projects related to antibiotic drug discovery to kill MRSA (a common hospital-acquired bacterial infection).

I understand that you and many of your colleagues strongly oppose the Affordable Care Act (ACA) healthcare law, which was signed by the President on March 23, 2010 and later deemed constitutional by the United States Supreme Court, on June 28, 2012. While I fully respect your right to disagree fervently with a law that has such far reaching impact I believe you set a dangerous precedent by allowing a minority of your caucus to shut down the federal government to force a result on this law for which there is neither votes in the congress to adopt; a fact that reflects the will of the electorate.

As a biomedical researcher, I see examples everyday of how the diversity of the human genome, epigenetics, and the unique aspects of our biology within each of our cells greatly influence our health and our lives. No human body is born perfect, no human genome comes without genetic mutations, and no human will ever be able to avoid the disastrous consequences that an unsuspecting illness may cause without affordable health care.

In life, we do not choose to be born or choose the exact genetic material we inherit from our parents. Every human body requires health care when treatment is necessary to prevent disease. In 2007, I lost my father to one of the most treatable cancers: colon cancer. I am not alone in my loss as millions of Americans across this country have watched their loved ones die at the hands of a terrible, but often tragically quite treatable disease. Losing my father encouraged my journey to become a biomedical researcher and enforced my passion to join the teams of researchers working day and night to find medical solutions. Had affordable health insurance plans been in place my father may have received the preventative care he needed to prevent his early death.

Every human being on this planet is born with a human body: a body that is not a perfectly immortal machine but one that is comprised of fragile and diverse biological cells. Whether we choose to recognize it or not, all human bodies eventually require health care to prevent illness.

As Speaker of the House, I urge you and your colleagues, who while having strong opposition to the ACA are so lucky to have one of the best health insurance plans in existence, to join together with all members of the House. Please work together towards defining a reasonable and sustainable budget. We the People of the United States of America want to see our country thrive. You hold a position of great responsibility that provides a profound opportunity for progress in resolving our budget crisis. You have an opportunity to propose a budget to strengthen our nation; improve our safety, our security, our health and our shared prosperity.

It is heartbreaking to watch and to be a part of the severe consequences of a government shutdown because a budget has not been passed: scientific research programs are disabled, federal agencies are shutdown, we are losing ~$300 million dollars a day from the US Economy, nearly 1 million federal workers have been furloughed, and patient care has been disrupted. Please begin focusing on productive legislation with all members of the House, and start the process of agreeing on a budget plan.

Please pass a budget and get our nation back on track.

Sincerely,

A concerned NIH Research Fellow