PARTNERS CEO SLAMS NIH CUTS
Says action hurts competitiveness
Dr. David Torchiana, CEO of medical giant Partners HealthCare, slammed President Trump’s massive budget cuts to the National Institutes of Health yesterday, saying such a move runs counter to the business magnate’s goal of boosting the country’s economic edge.
“Trump anticipated generously funding the NIH because of the very strong relationship between the successful science that has been funded by the NIH, and American economic competitiveness,” Torchiana said during a meeting with Herald reporters and editors yesterday. “So I have to say, I was very surprised to see such an aggressive cut.”
Trump’s budget proposes slashing NIH funding by nearly $6 billion, which is about a 20 percent cut.
Partners, which includes Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, receives more NIH funding than any other institution in the country.
MGH alone was given $360 million last year.
Torchiana said the cuts will likely generate enough outrage from both Republicans and Democrats that they will be at least partially restored. But, he said, “when you’re starting from a 20 percent cut — it’s not exactly a great place to start.”
Torchiana added that Trump’s focus on bringing more privatesector funding to the NIH is positive, in theory, but unrealistic.
“It’s hard to imagine they could actually recapture $6 billion in private-sector funding,” he said.
Torchiana was one of the health care executives summoned to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in December, which he said focused mostly on the president’s Cabinet appointments.
He said he anticipates there will be another meeting with the president, but there is “nothing definite yet.”