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In a June 29 segment called Saving money vs. saving lives, CBS Sunday Morning highlighted the devastating impacts of cancer research funding cuts, interviewing patients, clinical trial participants, and cancer researchers.

Ted Koppel spoke with AACI Past President George J. Weiner, MD (pictured), director emeritus of Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Iowa, and Elizabeth M. Jaffee, MD, deputy director, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Jaffee is an AACI Distinguished Scientist awardee.

The interviews were filmed in May, during the 2025 AACI/AACR Hill Day. "Most of the time when I've come, I've met with Democrats and Republicans, and we talked about the bipartisan support for cancer research," Dr. Weiner said. "This is the first time that I felt there was an existential crisis in our ability to make the type of progress that I see in front of us."

Koppel also interviewed Kevin Callahan, a participant in a clinical trial studying the efficacy of a vaccine to prevent pancreatic cancer recurrence, and Natalie Phelps, a patient with stage 4 metastatic colorectal cancer. Phelps had been invited to participate in a National Institutes of Health (NIH) clinical trial, led by cancer research pioneer Steven A. Rosenberg, MD, PhD, but budget cuts and reductions in force at the NIH have slowed the trial by about a month. During that time, Phelps became ineligible for the trial due to the development of several brain tumors that would make participation unsafe.

"I have endured so much, and now I have another hurdle just because of funding cuts?" she said. "I mean, my husband and I can't believe it. When is cancer political?"

Read "When is cancer political?" Medical researchers, patients decry Trump admin's layoffs, budget cuts

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