Dear UCSF Community,
UCSF strongly opposes today’s abrupt decision by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to discontinue intramural fetal tissue research by scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The efforts by the administration to impede this work will undermine scientific discovery and the ability to find effective treatments for serious and life-threatening disease. Fetal tissue is used in important research aimed at discovering cures for illnesses that affect the lives of millions of Americans, including Alzheimer’s, spinal cord injury, eye disease, and HIV.
At UCSF, today’s action ends a 30-year partnership with the NIH to use specially designed models that could be developed only through the use of fetal tissue to find a cure for HIV. UCSF exercised appropriate oversight and complied with all state and federal laws. We believe this decision to be politically motivated, shortsighted, and not based on sound science.
UCSF will continue to collaborate with the UC Office of the President, as well as with other universities, science associations, and affiliated organizations, to advocate for sustained federal funding of fetal tissue research with Congress and the Administration.
Sincerely,
...
Dear UCSF Community,
This month, members of our community will come together to celebrate Pride Month and mark the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising that sparked the modern LGBTQ rights movement.
UCSF unequivocally reaffirms its support for the LGBTQ community. Our unwavering commitment to protect the fundamental rights of the LGBTQ community is especially crucial today in the wake of several federal actions that would roll back basic human rights, including access to health care and homeless shelters. Among them:
- The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) proposed a regulation on May 24 that removes current anti-discrimination protections for transgender Americans from the Affordable Care Act (ACA), asserting that discrimination on the basis of sex should not include gender identity. The proposal essentially says that gender identity is not protected under federal laws that prohibit discrimination in health care.
- The HHS released a...