Kimberly Peters, a patient currently undergoing treatment for stage four uterine cancer at UC San Diego Health, has voiced concerns about the impact of recent federal funding cuts on cancer research. Peters was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015 and later faced uterine cancer in 2021. In 2023, her cancer spread to her thigh, and after additional chemotherapy, she began maintenance therapy. However, a routine scan earlier this year revealed that her cancer had returned.
“When you’re on maintenance, you have to do scans every couple of months to see that everything is okay, and one came back that was not so okay,” Peters said. “It’s incredibly difficult, but I’m hopeful we’ll come out on the other side to where one day I’m not living with it.”
Peters emphasized the importance of ongoing biomedical research and clinical trials for patients like herself whose cancers may not respond to standard treatments. She noted that clinical trials can offer hope but are costly and depend heavily on sustained funding.
“There aren’t many clinical trials available for me and my type of cancer, and that’s what’s scary, especially given what’s going on in the world,” said Peters. “But there’s so much that’s in the pipeline, and we won’t know if it’s going to work if we don’t have the research. These decisions don’t just hurt institutions. They hurt real people. They’re destroying a lot of my hope.”
As of June 2025, nearly $3.8 billion in National Institutes of Health (NIH) research grants have been terminated. In August 2025, efforts by researchers to reinstate $2 billion of these awards—many focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion—were blocked by the Supreme Court.
“I have a cancer that’s specific to females and anything even remotely related to DEI, including research related to women’s health, is being targeted, so what does that mean for me?” added Peters.
Medical professionals share similar concerns about how these cuts could affect future care options. Dr. Ramez Eskander, clinical professor at UC San Diego School of Medicine and gynecologic oncologist at UC San Diego Health, highlighted the role of clinical trials in advancing treatment standards.
“All of the therapeutic advances we utilize now as standard of care treatment approaches were based on discoveries made through innovative clinical trials,” Eskander said. “This research is how we identify cures for cancer and meaningfully prolong people’s lives. The more clinical trials we have available for patients, the better their care now and in the future.”
Moores Cancer Center at UC San Diego is recognized as one of only 57 Comprehensive Cancer Centers designated by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Its operations rely significantly on an NIH Cancer Center Support Grant (CCSG), which supports both standard therapies and new clinical trial development across multiple sites.
The center has submitted its CCSG renewal application this year with goals including expanding access to innovative treatments via more clinical trial enrollments throughout the community. Moores Cancer Center projects enrolling nearly 700 patients into clinical trials in 2025—a significant increase from previous years.
However, reduced medical research funding could limit such expansions at Moores Cancer Center and similar institutions nationwide by reducing available trials and affecting staffing needed for ongoing studies.
“The reason we have clinical trials is because standard of care therapies are not always effective and we need more options for our patients,” Eskander stated. “Cuts to NIH funding may reduce the overall number of clinical trials and impact staffing, making existing trials more difficult to access for patients.”
Despite uncertainty over future federal support for biomedical research programs like those at Moores Cancer Center, Peters remains determined.
“I wish I could take them to my chemo and let them see what it’s like. Let them see the countless people I’ve sat with during long chemo infusions,” she said. “What if the treatment that could save someone in that chemo waiting room — someone’s mother, someone’s child — was one of those lost discoveries?”
She also expressed gratitude toward her care team: “When I had my first appointment with Dr. Eskander, he sat down next to me, took my hand, and told me ‘We’re going to get through this.’ You can’t imagine what those words mean when you have stage 4 cancer.”
Peters continues advocating against science funding cuts: “The fact that we haven’t cured cancer tells us that we still need research,” she said. “Patients are people. We’re not a line item. Funding is desperately needed so that one day, we can all be survivors.”
