A 15-year research project focused on Alzheimer's disease in Pittsburgh has been terminated due to funding cuts by the Trump administration. The "Phresh" study, which examined the cognitive health of approximately 600 participants in two low-income, majority Black neighbourhoods, was cancelled more than five months earlier than expected.
Participants, including 70-year-old Roderick Blair, may now never learn the results of their cognitive tests, despite earlier promises from researchers. Tamara Dubowitz, a primary investigator on the study and professor at the University of Pittsburgh, stated that the real loss is the inability to provide feedback to participants.
The funding cuts have the potential to delay diagnoses of Alzheimer's disease or dementia syndromes within the participant group. Early diagnosis is crucial for the effectiveness of treatments for these conditions. The study was among more than 5,700 medical research grants at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that have been cancelled, frozen, or disrupted by the administration.