Kimberly Peters, a cancer patient currently receiving treatment at UC San Diego Health, has experienced multiple cancer diagnoses since 2015. After initial treatment for breast cancer and subsequent battles with uterine cancer, Peters learned earlier this year that her disease had returned. She now faces the possibility of enrolling in a clinical trial as part of her ongoing care.
Clinical trials are critical for patients whose cancers do not respond to standard therapies. However, recent reductions in funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have raised concerns about the future availability and development of these trials. As of June 2025, nearly $3.8 billion in NIH research grants have been terminated. In August, the Supreme Court ended efforts to reinstate $2 billion of these awards that focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
“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.”
Peters expressed concern about how targeted cuts could affect research related to women’s health: “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?”
Her doctor at UC San Diego Health, Ramez Eskander, M.D., highlighted the importance of clinical trials: “All of the therapeutic advances we utilize now as standard of care treatment approaches were based on discoveries made through innovative clinical trials,” he 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.”
UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center is recognized by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) as one of only 57 Comprehensive Cancer Centers nationwide—a designation supported by an NIH Cancer Center Support Grant (CCSG). The center aims to expand its clinical trial operations across multiple sites in 2025 and projects enrollment of nearly 700 patients into clinical trials next year—up from 290 participants in 2023.
Eskander warned about potential impacts if funding continues to be cut: “The reason we have clinical trials is because standard of care therapies are not always effective and we need more options for our patients,” he said. “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 these challenges, Peters remains committed to advocating for continued science funding: “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?”
Peters praised her medical team at UC San Diego Health: “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.”
She concluded by stressing why ongoing investment is needed: “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.”
