In November, Gov. Maura Healey signed a $4 billion economic development bill , allocating $1 billion for life sciences. Massachusetts has long been a leader in life sciences, receiving the most National Institutes of Health funding per capita. However, proposed federal cuts threaten the state’s progress.
Yvonne Hao, the secretary of economic development for Massachusetts, said she is very concerned about the Trump administration suggesting freezing federal grants and loans, including reductions to NIH funding.
“I do not agree with the Trump proposal to reduce NIH funding,” Hao stated. “[Life sciences] is like the best thing that we do in our country. If you’re running a business and you have a product that is the best in the world, the last thing you would do is cut funding for that product. Why would you do that?”
Hao pointed to Massachusetts’ history of investment in life sciences as a key driver of its success. She pointed to Gov. Deval Patrick signing the $1 billion life sciences bill in 2008 .
“If you go back to 2008, when Gov. Patrick was here, we were nowhere on the map in life sciences … We are now by far the world’s leader in life sciences. This is not the time to stop,” Hao emphasized.
While the proposed cuts pose challenges, Hao said Massachusetts is better positioned than most states to withstand them because of the economic development bill.
“When you have challenges like we do now, this is when the best teams step up and figure out how to hustle. And so this is going to force us to find new ways to work together,” Hao said.
