San Francisco - Ophthalmologist and UC San Francisco professor Nisha Acharya is at her campus clinic and they take care of patients when a surprising email arrives.

A Washington Post reporter said her federal research grant had just been fired, who wanted to know if Acharia had any comments.

She was stunned. Her research, which targets the operation of a shingles vaccine, does not seem to be controversial. After years of similar work, the $3 million grant is the second she received. The National Institutes of Health, which awarded the grant and regularly reviewed Acharya's performance, was satisfied with her achievements.

Nevertheless, NIH’s concise informs that the university’s latest grant has been terminated dozens of terminations, as the federal government under President Trump will no longer support a focus on “why individuals hesitate to get vaccinated and/or explore ways to improve vaccine interest and commitment.”

Acharya's research has nothing to do with anything.

But the reference to “hesitation” and “absorption” in her grant application – refers to the focus of some corneal experts on vaccines, which is clearly all the effort in the Dragnet installed by the Trump administration word police department for those with shingles.

Perhaps "hesitation" and "absorption" produce AI responses, or trigger some hunt algorithm. Acharya is not completely sure, but there is no evidence that the actual person, let alone any expert in vaccines or shingles, has reviewed or evaluated her work on her grant proposal.

She has no explanation, and other than that, this is a subpoena conveyed to the university on March 10. “I lost money immediately,” Acharia said.

The randomness of government actions and their obvious mistakes are crazy. It is also frightening, Acharya said, believing that political considerations are now guiding scientific and scientific research, eliminating years of efforts and thwarting potential treatments and opportunities for breakthrough treatments in the future.

"I don't think the government has what matters to decide science," Acharya said on the glittering Mission Bay campus in UCSF.

She suggested that Trump’s unconscious, chaotic policies will scare a generation of scientists and medical researchers who may become possible, undermine the pursuit of knowledge, hurt the public and have a negative impact on people’s health “in the next few years”.

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Acharya is in a high school when she arrives at the fork on the road. Now 50, she presses her hands into a "V" shape to illustrate both paths.

At that time, she was a violinist at the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra, and toured the world with the orchestra. She likes science, too. Her father is a drug. Her mother teaches high school mathematics and chemistry.

Acharya said she realized she wasn't ready to make a commitment or accept the omnipotent sacrifice needed for her music career. Therefore, science became the route she chose.

At Stanford University, she majored in biology and received her master’s degree in health services studies. From there, it entered UCSF Medical School. "I love science. But I really want to be able to interact directly with patients," said Acharya, a self-proclaimed person.

Her favorite professor specializing in eye infections and inflammation directed her to the ophthalmology department and helped Acharya find her passion for her life. She smiled as she was roaring with passionate enthusiasm for her work, her eyes widened and her fingers fluttered on the table as if she had summoned Bach or Paganini again.

"The body affects everything in the eyes," she explained. "Like, if you get infected, you can feel it in the eyes. If you have an autoimmune disease, it can be manifested in the eyes. You have a blood pressure problem, and you can see it in the eyes. In fact, the eyes are really a window into the body."

Acharya's latest research focuses on how shingles vaccines work.

Shingles are rashes caused by the varicella zoster virus, which can also cause chickenpox. Once chickenpox subsides, the virus can lie dormant in a person for decades before breaking out again.

“In the first grant, we proved that vaccines are very effective in preventing shingles and shingles never before,” Acharia said. “But we didn’t ask the question, what if you already have shingles?”

Acharya said it was exactly what others were doing, with the aim of preventing loss of vision or blindness. She repeatedly stressed that this is not an attempt to promote vaccination, it is a once-entangled custom that once was a political, social and cultural debate, or for that matter, to prevent anyone from receiving vaccination.

"It's the kind of research you think the government wants. Safety and effectiveness …pros and cons," Acharya said. "I just want to get information so people can use it."

Now, the guide will be available soon.

If anything.
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Acharia was never politically active. She said her life and career have been committed to promoting science.

She never married any party or ideology when she leaned to the left. Acharya found reasons that both Democrats and Republicans agreed and disagreed.

She didn't vote for Trump, but didn't see her support for Kamala Harris as any representative of scientific inquiries, or a means of protecting her grants. "It never made me think of it," she said.

The five-year grant paid 35% of Acharya’s salary—she was close to the end of the second year—and while the loss of income was not high, she would manage it. "I'm a professor and a doctor," she said. "I won't lose my job."

However, Acharya was forced to rule on two data analysts, while the third research position was at risk. Her voice thickened as she discussed those letting go. Once, she seemed to be fighting back tears.

“I cried a lot with my team,” she said during a conversation in the breathing cafeteria-style tavern. "I just put it together because I have to...I still take care of the patient. I still teach. I can't lose it that way. I feel...I have to find some way to keep going."

To remove federal enthusiasm, the Trump administration has terminated hundreds of grants and ended research on areas such as Alzheimer's disease, cancer, HIV/AIDS, HIV/AIDS, heart disease, AIDS, mental health services and addiction.

Hundreds of millions of dollars have been wasted now, hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent. All the fruits studied were faintly and suddenly falling from the grapes.

Acharia said it is impossible to calculate the loss. Even trying is painful. "All things that might not have been learned," she pondered strangely. "All potential benefits" may not be achieved.

Termination notice UCSF received UCSF from the National Institutes of Health to make Acharya 30 days if she believes the decision to terminate the study was wrong. She did.

A few days later, the university received an exam preparation email confirming that it received Acharya's appeal.

Since then, nothing has happened.