WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The Trump administration is waging a -- quote -- "wholesale assault on U.S. science, an effort that threatens the country's health, economic development, national security, and scientific preeminence."

That's according to an open letter published today by nearly 2,000 doctors, scientists, and researchers in response to the administration cutting tens of thousands of jobs across the Department of Health and Human Services and scrapping billions of dollars in scientific grants.

We are joined now by one of the authors of that letter.

Dr. Steven Woolf is professor of family medicine and population health at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine.

Dr. Woolf, welcome back to the program.

DR. STEVEN WOOLF, Virginia Commonwealth University: Thanks for having me.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Your letter cites a series of impacts, economic, technological, impacts on human health.

You write -- quote -- "We are sending this SOS to sound a clear warning: The nation's scientific enterprise is being decimated."

How so?

DR. STEVEN WOOLF: Well, we have spent 80 years in this country building up our scientific infrastructure.

We -- federal agencies have been investing in the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation.

And that's enabled our country to make remarkable scientific discoveries that have made the United States the envy of the world.

In a matter of weeks, the Trump administration has pursued a set of policies that are basically removing the capacity of our country to do this kind of research.

And it has broad implications across many of the sectors that you mentioned.

I'm a physician, so it's of great concern that this is going to affect health and the life expectancy of Americans.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Devil's advocate, though, let's just say there are a few less thousand scientists at the NIH or the HHS.

How does that actually roll out into real people's lives?

DR. STEVEN WOOLF: Well, to start with, by cutting the funding for these agencies and dismissing thousands of federal scientists from these agencies, we're also seeing a sharp reduction in the funding for the research that occurs at universities and research institutions across the country.

The net effect of this is to slow the process of a discovery, so that we're slower in identifying new treatments for cancer, new ways of treating heart disease, and starting to seed the edge, the advantage to other countries, like China and other countries, that are investing heavily in our research.

So we're going to lose our edge, and the implications are ultimately going to affect everyday Americans.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Your letter cites impacts to climate research, to cancer research, to HIV.

Specifically in your field, which is health policy, what are you most concerned about on that front?

DR. STEVEN WOOLF: Well, I have spent my entire career studying the fact that Americans have shorter life expectancy and poorer health outcomes than people in other high-income countries.

That's been the case for many years now, and the gap is widening.

My concern is, the very kind of research that would help us improve the health of Americans and reverse that trend is getting cut.

We're seeing large slashes in funding for the very kind of research that would make America healthier again.

This is a stated priority of the administration, but it's doing the exact opposite of what we would need to improve our health.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: I assume you saw the news about Peter Marks, the head of -- the vaccine regulator at the FDA was basically forced out on Friday.

That's the kind of thing you're talking about, again, a preeminent researcher in his field being pushed out ostensibly because of ideological differences?

DR. STEVEN WOOLF: Yes, we're seeing this across the administration, but, in our world, in research, the very top scientists, the top minds in our country and in our government who have the expertise for doing this research are being pushed out and being replaced by individuals who have more of a commitment to the ideological and partisan agenda of the administration.

And the reason why this affects Americans is that they're not necessarily getting the straight facts about what the science tells us.

It's very important for Americans to be able to receive the truth about what the evidence tells us and not have to worry whether it's being slanted to suit politics or special interests.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: There are, as I mentioned, almost 2,000 signatories to your letter, all members of the national academies.

But there are also several major research institutions, universities that have been a little bit tamer in speaking out the way you all are in this letter.

We have seen certainly the sort of pressure that's been put on universities, Columbia University, Harvard University today.

You describe this culture of fear that exists out there.

What are your colleagues telling you?

DR. STEVEN WOOLF: Oh, there is definitely a climate of fear.

The leaders of our research institutions, the leaders of our universities, the leaders of our academy are all in a very difficult position, because they are under financial and legal pressures that are actually very difficult and are unable to speak out openly about their greatest concerns about this attack on science.

So we say that we're giving -- we're speaking as individuals, sending out an SOS, in effect, saying what our leadership cannot say.

And it's very important for the public to pay attention to this, because it has implications for them.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Is there anything that the administration is doing on the scientific front that you can admire?

I mean, you look at RFK Jr., the head of HHS, his desire to address chronic disease, highly processed foods.

Are there things that you can admire that the administration is doing?

DR. STEVEN WOOLF: I absolutely agree with the diagnosis.

Many of the issues that Secretary Kennedy has raised and others in the administration are spot on.

He himself talks about the low life expectancy of the United States.

The chronic disease burden is a real issue.

The food industry and the food environment is also a problem.

The trouble that we're having is, the solution, the treatment for the disease is bizarre.

It's exactly the opposite of what the evidence would tell us we should do.

So under the label of what the administration is calling a restoration of gold standard science and making America healthy again, a set of policies are being pursued that experts like the group that signed this statement are certain will actually have the opposite effect and endanger Americans.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Dr. Steven Woolf, always great to see you.

Thank you very much.

DR. STEVEN WOOLF: Pleasure being here.