We need to stand up for science while it’s under attack

On March 7, thousands of scientists, researchers, health-care providers, students, and supporters converged on City Hall in Philadelphia to stand up for science. The night before this rally, I thought back to 2017.

Eight years ago, I helped to organize the Philadelphia March for Science during the first Trump administration. After many months of planning, the morning of the protest was chilly, cloudy, and had rain in the forecast. To our surprise and elation, over 20,000 people flooded the streets around City Hall up and down Market Street. It will always be one of the most life-changing events I have participated in — watching as tens of thousands of researchers, scientists, students, and supporters showed up and marched the streets of Philly in support of science.

Unfortunately, with the second Trump administration, a new action was needed, as the attacks on science and health are even worse than before. There have been mass firings and budget and program cuts in numerous areas of the federal government, including cutting hundreds of active research grants at the National Institutes of Health, firing over 1,500 employees from NIH and over 1,300 employees from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and budget and staffing cuts at the Food and Drug Administration.

When the national Stand Up for Science rally was announced last month, I knew I wanted to be involved again. I was honored to be one of four #womeninscience who organized the Philadelphia Stand Up for Science rally.

In addition to the gathering in Center City, there were more than 100 different events around the country. It was a moving day for me — just as it was eight years ago — but this time, the rally for science was life-changing for a different reason.

Just two days before the rally, my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had a biopsy earlier in the week, and we were expecting a long wait for results, but the call came the next afternoon. I was teaching that evening, and my wife waited until I got home to tell me. We were concerned but pragmatic — per the doctor, they caught the cancer very early, so there was reason to be optimistic.

I wasn’t planning on speaking at the rally — my role was to help keep the crowd energized and loud with chanting — but I could not pass up the opportunity to express to the attendees, our elected officials , and the public what science means to me and my family — and what it should mean to everyone, because everyone benefits from science.

In a moment that was livestreamed on Facebook, I told the crowd about my wife’s cancer diagnosis. “As scary as those words are to hear, my family is optimistic, and we are optimistic because of science!”

I am optimistic because of the research and technology that allowed for the very early detection of my wife’s breast cancer, which was caught at Stage 0, a noninvasive form. I am grateful for the preventative medicine and health care that science provides. Breast cancer mortality in the U.S. has decreased by 40% since 1990 because of annual mammograms.

This fact was reaffirmed by my wife’s new doctor, who stated that her case is an example of the value of getting annual mammograms starting at age 40, as her type of cancer would not turn into a mass that could be felt for decades. Even though my wife will still need to have surgery to remove the small mass, and radiation therapy to make sure it does not grow or spread, without the technology of mammogram machines or the preventative medicine of annual mammograms, her prognosis would be much different.

There are so many similar stories from others whose loved ones’ lives were saved by science, whose suffering was eased because of science, and whose quality of life is that much better because of science.

There are also so many more breakthroughs to be discovered, more technologies to be developed, and more diseases to be cured. And none of that can happen without science — or without funding for science.

Here in Philadelphia, NIH-funded research led to the discovery of CAR-T cell therapy, which helps fight cancer and other diseases, and mRNA, which has been used to develop vaccines for COVID-19 and the flu, both of which are currently infecting many people across the country.

As impressive as the Stand Up for Science turnout was — as MSNBC host Rachel Maddow highlighted on her show, “Look at this, I mean this is impressive … look at that, that’s a really big protest!” — the rally is just the beginning. There is so much more to do to let the Trump administration know we will not stand idly by while it destroys the scientific foundation that keeps this country and its citizens healthy and safe.

And as Mariann Budde — the Episcopal bishop who bravely asked President Donald Trump to “have mercy” on migrants and the LGBTQ community — states in her book, How We Learn to Be Brave, “This country needs leaders now and citizens who can face things as they are, and work to change what can be changed and not give up hope for the future.”

As a family, we certainly have hope and feel reassured my wife’s prognosis will be good. For my part, I will continue to fight for science, stand up for science, and be a leader this country needs to do the work it takes for all of us to continue to benefit from science.

I can’t do it alone, though. How will you stand up for science?

Marion Leary is a nurse, public health advocate, and activist.