I am a cancer doctor.

It took me many years to become one and while I paid for my medical school tuition, my residency and fellowship training was partially subsidized by government funds for general medical education. Every residency and fellowship is partially funded this way because the government recognizes the need for doctors. I have also had an NIH funded basic research lab where I did research that has contributed to many treatments available today (for heart disease as well as for cancer). I was trained to critically read and review randomized controlled studies that show treatment A is better than treatment B, or that treatment A causes no more side effects than a placebo.

The need for cancer doctors is based on population studies that show cancer is a disease of aging, one that is increased by exposure to industrial and environmental carcinogens. As we live longer, more people will have cancer. In other words, I do not need to do anything to create more business for myself.

I am on a flat salary. I do not get paid more to treat patients for longer, to create cancer, to treat with more expensive therapies. I cure a small fraction of patients, but with the help of NIH-funded research, I am able to keep a large proportion of my patients alive, turning stage four cancer into a chronic disease. I work hard to maintain the quality of life for patients whether they choose treatment or comfort care.

• I do not accept a salary from hospice or nursing homes.
• I do not meet with nor accept gifts from pharmaceutical representatives.
• I do not privately invest in drug companies or vaccine development.

All of this is to say that when I say I fear for the longevity of all citizens, but especially cancer patients, in an environment where funding for research and the training of scientists and doctors is being slashed or rescinded, I have no personal agenda. When I say I fear for my cocitizens when the head of the Department of Health and Human Services is not a trained medical professional, but a lawyer with fringe views who has none of the training I have, I do not have a personal vendetta. I just worry what will happen when my kids have cancer and there are no additional treatments available because we have defunded research. I worry what will happen when my patients go to Florida to Disneyworld and get exposed to an array of communicable diseases that will no longer be prevented by vaccines. I worry what will happen when we face the next pandemic and we have no vaccines available or research infrastructure to deploy a rapid vaccine response.

If I am worried as a trained professional, you should be too.

Banu Symington is a hematology-oncology physician.