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Staffers at one of the tentpole research entities at the Oregon Health & Science University Knight Cancer Institute have been feeling jittery about their jobs—and perhaps with good reason.
In a meeting last week, institutional leaders told faculty of major funding cuts being floated for the Cancer Early Detection Advanced Research Center. Incoming Knight Cancer Institute president Dr. Brian Druker was not present, but confirmed the meeting’s subject matter in a Tuesday interview with WW.
He says the news may seem contradictory given the recent $2 billion pledge the institute received from its titular benefactors, Phil and Penny Knight. But Druker says the new funds are largely earmarked for new programs—rather than sustaining already-existing ones—and the institute must budget sustainably in a rough climate for research funding, and when older donations are starting to run dry.
“We’re looking at this very carefully, deliberately, and thoughtfully to make sure that funds are going to be invested as wisely as possible,” Druker says.
Beyond a faculty core, dozens of researchers and other staff work at CEDAR, which staff say is distinguished by a structure that is less hierarchical than the principal investigator-based model that defines much academic research.
Still, whatever their governing philosophy, U.S. academic labs have faced an unsettling few months, as the Trump administration slashes and upends the system of government grants that has sustained much scientific research for generations. Meanwhile, hospital systems like OHSU warn of broader financial strain.
Druker, who, with the new shot of funding from the Knights, has been tapped to resume his longtime post leading the Knight Cancer Institute, says he recently shared details of Knight Cancer Institute leaders’ ongoing financial discussions with Dr. Shelley Tworoger.
Druker says Tworoger is fabulous. She heads the OHSU Division of Oncological Sciences, which houses many CEDAR faculty members. Though he would be on vacation, Druker says he gave Tworoger the blessing to discuss what he told her, alongside Knight Cancer Institute Interim Director Dr. Lisa Coussens, at a Sept. 9 meeting of CEDAR faculty.
Druker says talk of some potential cuts is nothing new and such discussions have been active for months. But he says the size and scope of what is being discussed was clearly upsetting.
“I would say that the message was not delivered as effectively, compassionately, or consistent with with what we’re actually trying to accomplish,” he says.
Indeed, as four CEDAR employees told WW, an anxious rumor mill formed among staff who were not present at the Sept. 9 meeting, but who heard second or thirdhand about its contents—including the potential zeroing out of the CEDAR budget—which had the potential to upend their work lives.
“Regardless of if this turns out fine and it was all a big misunderstanding, the way that nonfaculty employees are being treated is so appalling,” CEDAR staffer Molly Brockway earlier told WW.
She noted that her criticism did not apply to CEDAR’s director, Dr. Sadik Esener, who was on vacation when the meeting in question occurred. (Esener, in an email, says he returned Thursday, Sept. 11.)
Before long, OHSU President Dr. Shereef Elnahal was hearing from staff on the matter. “I first heard about all this on Friday,” he wrote in an email to one CEDAR employee reviewed by WW. “And as I get up to speed, this note (and the many others I have received) will be very helpful. In short, no final decisions have been made on this.”
Asked Friday about the rumors, an OHSU spokesperson wrote in an email that, “Leaders across the Knight Cancer Institute are currently discussing and evaluating their budgets to better align with the strategic plan for their research programs. This will take a great deal of planning in a phased approach, and leaders are committed to sharing details transparently as they are developed.”
The spokesperson added, “No layoffs have been announced at OHSU, including at the Knight Cancer Institute.”
By Tuesday, Sept. 16, more clarity was emerging. Esener sent CEDAR staff a message of his own, seeking, he said, to address the many concerns he said he had heard the week prior. “No final decisions have been made,” he wrote, “and I am working closely with Knight leadership to ensure that if changes are necessary, they are carried out in ways that minimize harm to our people and to our mission to defeat cancer at its earliest detectable state.”
Druker, for his part, says the institute is working to “reset” its communications, as it seeks to engage stakeholders to draw input as to what the most valuable use of scarce resources might be.
On Tuesday he said he met with CEDAR faculty. He says he wanted them to hear directly from him how valuable their work is. Still, he says, he also made it clear that he has “set in place processes to understand where some cuts can be made, so that an amazing program is sustainable.”
This reporting is supported by the Heatherington Foundation for Innovation and Education in Health Care.
