David Cabrera

I had the opportunity to speak about careers in science policy at #ASPET2025 Career Connections. Great questions and discussion with the audience! #sciencepolicy @ASPET @VAInstitute

I took the big stage again to co-chair A Tour of the Dopamine Receptors #ASPET2025 #pharmacology #dopamine #basicresearch #fundbasicresearch

#ASPET2025 Opening Session Director of Government Affairs and Science Policy Carter Alleman and I updated the membership on the current Federal environment for pharmacology and biomedical research and translation. We shared tools policy, advocacy and with Congress. #pharmacology #sciencepolicy

About to take the big stage at #aspet2025 to talk about our current science policy environment. Because biomedical research is important for our country #aspet #pharmacology #science

‘One of the darkest days’: NIH purges agency leadership amid mass layoffs In shock move, four institute directors at the US biomedical agency are removed from their posts.

"This will go down as one of the darkest days in modern scientific history." Story on the decimation of NIH by @maxkozlov.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/d41...?

We are three people away from 100 registrations for Midwest worm meeting! We can do this worm community! (Also thanks so much for signing up all, a big year!)

Against the Dismantling of the PMF Program- Alumni Sign On Letter On February 19th, 2025 the current administration put forth an Executive Order “Commencing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy”. One provision is to terminate the Presidential Management Fellowsh...

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

This is the fellowship program I went through at NIH (specifically the NIH partner program to PMF). What this administration is doing is removing good people and destroying opportunities for the next generation.

DOJ, HHS, ED, and GSA Announce Initial Cancellation of Grants and Contracts to Columbia University Worth $400 Million Today, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Department of Education (ED), and the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) announced that through their coordinated efforts they would i...

DOJ, HHS, ED, and GSA Announce Initial Cancellation of Grants and Contracts to Columbia University Worth $400 Million (government press release) www.gsa.gov/about-us/new...

Statement of Association of American Universities, Association of Public & Land-grant Universities, and American Council on Education Regarding Their Legal Challenge to the Administration’s Cut to Lif... AAU, ACE, and APLU have jointly filed suit in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, along with a number of impacted research university co-plaintiffs, seeking to halt the NIH's proposed cut to life-sa...

Two additional separate filings were also made by several other associations and individual societies.

www.aau.edu/newsroom/pre...

and www.courtlistener.com/docket/69626...

I and others in the field are thankful for this and are working to defend biomedical research.

Federal judge temporarily blocks NIH rate cut University officials argued in court filings that the effects of the policy change “will be immediate and devastating.”

Yesterday, the Attorneys General of 22 States filed a complaint in United District Court seeking relief from the wrongheaded NIH 15% F&A cap.
Later in the day a temporary retraining order was granted.

www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

I am telling myself many are bots or mindless amplifiers. I’m hoping to get through to the rest that this is not the way to actualize frustration with government. Putting aside the good for humankind, biomedical research is good for the economy. I and others are posed to fight this!

I suspect this is really what the whole TikTok thing was about.

Deep Cuts to Medical Research Funds Could Hobble University Budgets (Gift Article) Grants from the National Institutes of Health come with additional money for overhead. Proposed funding cuts would leave colleges with large budget gaps.

“I think it’s going to destroy research universities in the short term, and I don’t know after that.” Story by @by-cjewett.bsky.social on the new NIH policy that will shrivel support for research. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/07/u...

It provides infrastructure, basic discoveries that can help pharma, derisks new technologies to hand off to industry and so much more. I know there is frustration with how the government works and the two parties work. But this is not the way.

Do not fall into their rhetoric. I have worked for the government (NIH) and with others at many government agencies. They work hard, they have vision, they want to help others. Government is not a business and can’t be run like one. Government is enabling for the people and for industry.

Not only will this decision cripple science and healthcare it will also open the door for the US falling behind China and others. It will cause unemployment and affect the economy. Elon Musk and his followers have been battering government workers and calling them lazy and listless.

I have worked with these people when I was in a lab and now among them supporting our science. These are people with passion to help advance cures and health and make the world a better place.

This is a terrible decision. While on the face of it it might seem like cost cutting, these costs are real. Scientists don’t do their work in the garage and administering science is complicated and requires skilled people in administration to support the operations of the science.

I recently returned from a week long trip to Panama’s El Valle Antón for some birding. Here are some of the birds (and more to follow). Spectacled Owl, Collared Aracari and Lesson’s Motmot

Congressional Appropriations letter from US Reps. Rosa DeLauro and Patty Murray to Acting OMB Director on freezing federal grants and funding.

Yes, it’s a very interesting field of work with potential for additional therapeutic approaches.

Congratulations to our President and Chief Scientific Officer Peter Jones, Director’s Scholar Steve Baylin (Johns Hopkins) and Andy Feinberg (Johns Hopkins)!

Faculty Position in Metabolism and Nutritional Programming Van Andel Institute (VAI), a world-class biomedical research institute, located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is dedicated to improving human health. We are pioneers in the fight against cancer, Parkinso...

Our institute is hiring for a new faculty to join my department at any level! Incredible research support, a great community, a chance to build something while still being at a place already producing top tier research. We start reviewing apps in 2 weeks! vai.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/VAICar...

Van Andel Institute scientists named to prestigious Highly Cited Researchers list – Van Andel Institute VAI scientists Russell Jones, Ph.D., and Peter W. Laird, Ph.D., are included in this year’s Clarivate Highly Cited Researchers list, a distinction marking them as leaders in their fields.

Congratulations to VAI's Dr. Russell Jones and Dr. @peterwlaird.bsky.social for being named to this year's Clarivate Highly Cited Researchers list — a distinction that marks them as leaders in their fields. #HighlyCited2024

We’re hiring faculty!

vai.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/VAICar...