Recent news and political debate after the election of Donald Trump have been concerned with the implications of his efforts to eliminate the Affordable Care Act and implement his own health care system. While this is a significant topic to discuss and emphasize, Trump’s proposals to cut back on biomedical research have not been as publicized and could potentially have detrimental effects on the healthcare system and the Americans’ well being.

George Yancopoulos, who is a leader in the biomedical research and pharmaceutical drug industry, as well as the father of three former and one current Hackley students, remarked on the implications of cutbacks on medical research in an article published on Bloomberg.com this past March. Yancopoulos is one of the co-founders of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, a company based in Tarrytown, NY, which is one of the most successful companies in the biopharmaceutical industry. In 2016 the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved eight new first class medicines. Regeneron alone has developed five new medicines since 2011, which is almost 10% of the world total.

Regeneron’s motto “Doing Well By Doing Good,” rings especially true to Yancopoulos and has influenced his work as well as his approach towards domestic and global problems he believes science can solve, “Our primary goal wasn’t just to make money, it was to do good things for the world, primarily by basing our work on science…we are big believers that the smartest minds have to be engaged and drafted into working on the most important problems that mankind faces, and as far as I can tell the two most important problems that we face that we need the smartest kids and minds working on both have to do with science… the science of life and health and the science of the environment and our planet.”

Yancopoulos identifies as neither a Republican or Democrat and expresses grievances with each respective parties’ policies. He criticizes Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton’s policies which aim to increase taxes for large corporations. By increasing taxes, they would cut research budgets as well, since a lot of important research comes from those same large corporations. Yancopoulos is also critical of Trump’s policies, “As a society we need to be investing in our future, Trump might see that more than the prior administration in the business side. On the other hand, he may be making a mistake when he cuts spending for the National Institute of Health (NIH), most companies use that as a starting point for their research.”

Assessing the issues the American public faces, Yancopoulos reiterates that supporting science is necessary and critical because “…there are a lot more diseases which are challenging us which are huge challenges to mankind, ranging from Alzheimer’s, to obesity, to diabetes which all together people estimate in 20 years will affect half the population of the US.” He feels that the concern and focus on Obamacare and healthcare policies should be directed towards supporting science research, “…if we don’t invest in science, and in healthcare, and the environment what we are spending today is going to be a drop in the bucket in what we are going to need to keep ourselves going in terms of health in the future,” Yancopoulos said. In addition to promoting the support of science research, Yancopoulos also believes that it is just as important to reward those who seek to help society through research and that, “…we should create an environment where if you want to work at a university and do science research, or do more applied science at a company and turn early research into cures, that all these should be rewarded. In fact, I think they should be rewarded more so than going to Wall Street.”

As Yancopoulos continues developing new medicines and finding new cures for some of the most widespread diseases, he always thinks about the future of medicine and public health and the importance of inspiring young students, “We need to recognize that as a society that we need to work together and focus, and the most important thing in my mind is that we need to inspire. This is what JFK was great at, he is one of the reasons I became a scientist, he was inspiring people. He said we need the greatest young minds to contribute back to this great country. We need them to make discoveries, inventions, new cures.”