Dr. W. Ian Lipkin, director of the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University, has spent more than two decades studying a debilitating chronic illness that is often misunderstood and stigmatized, known as myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). Lipkin's work faces an uncertain future after grants from the federal government were terminated last week, stripping patients with this chronic disease of one of the few sources of research endeavoring to understand their condition and find treatments, he said.
The Center for Solutions for ME/CFS is one of a few centers across the country dedicated to studying this condition, but it can no longer remain operational, Lipkin said. It was receiving funding from the National Institutes of Health, but the Trump Administration cut about $250 million in grants to Columbia, which the agency said occurred due to the university's "continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.”
