A Norwegian researcher highlights the academic resistance to Trump in a prestigious journal.
Donald Trump and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pose a threat to public health, according to a Norwegian doctor and researcher. Along with her colleagues, she is now urging immediate action.(Photo: Evelyn Hockstein / Reuters / NTB)
On Wednesday, the Norwegian researcher and doctor Emma Joanna Lengle published a comment in the scientific journal The Lancet.
She talks about the resistance movement against Trump's attacks on science and therefore also on public health.
Lately, the resistance has been growing. Everything from activist groups to professional organisations and universities – a large number of people and associations are coming together to protect the health of millions of Americans.
"Trump's attacks affect the whole world," she tells Science Norway.
Together with two colleagues from Harvard and Yale, she is now calling for action.
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Who makes up the resistance?
The resistance movement includes activists and researchers working in fields such as HIV and AIDS, women's health, LGBTQ+, disabilities, minorities, and climate.
It also includes members of youth organisations, labour unions, and grassroots movements.
Universities that are direct targets of the Trump administration are now fighting battles in court and within their own networks.
They are doing this because, over the past six months, Trump has cut massive amounts of research funding and fired federal employees in research fields such as climate, health, and most areas related to diversity.
Large research datasets have also begun to disappear from national websites.
Is an activist herself
Lengle has spent the past year as a visiting researcher at Harvard Medical School.
There, she has taken an active role in resisting the Trump administration’s policies. Among her efforts, she has helped coordinate networks for researchers in need of legal aid or support from fellow researchers.
She believes much of this work still remains invisible to many.
"We were often asked by friends and colleagues whether anyone was pushing back against the attacks," she says. "But more and more of us are stepping up."
Lengle notes that activism is unfamiliar territory for many researchers, and they need help organising a united resistance to the attacks – which are often overwhelming and happen very quickly.
Thousands of researchers protested Trump's budget cuts in March this year.(Photo: Robyn Stevens Brody, Sipa USA, NTB)
Assaults on public health
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The academic community has been especially vocal when it comes to defending public health and scientific research, according to Lengle.
Several researchers have spoken out to correct misinformation, such as Trump's stance on vaccines and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s views on autism.
Still, the mobilisation took time.
The researchers write that in the beginning, the opposition was overwhelmed, but now numerous groups and organisations have started building a broad front to combat the Trump administration's policies.
Emma Lengle is a doctor with a master's in public health from Harvard. She is currently pursuing a PhD in social medicine at the University of Oslo.(Photo: Private)
Public health is about living good lives
As a physician and PhD fellow in social medicine, Lengle is particularly focused on the link between society and health.
"In public health, we work to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to live good, healthy lives," she says.
That involves a more just distribution of the factors that influence people's health, including housing, education, employment, and healthcare.
"Trump's attacks on public health therefore affect the entire American population," she says.
And the consequences reach far beyond America’s borders. With steep cuts to medical research and foreign aid, millions worldwide will be affected. According to a recent study, more than 14 million people – one-third of them young children – are expected to die as a result of the Trump administration’s dismantling of USAID.
Marginalised groups hit the hardest
The comment in The Lancet is a call to action.(Photo: Screenshot from The Lancet)
Still, it is the marginalised groups in the US who are most at risk, according to Lengle.
Trump has made it clear that any initiatives tied to terms like 'minority' or 'gender' are treated with deep suspicion. This also applies to research projects.
"The Trump administration is pursuing policies that increase inequality and dismantle systems designed to promote diversity, equality, and inclusion," says Lengle.
Is it enough?
But will the resistance make a difference?
Erica Chenoweth, professor of political science at Harvard University, explained the so-called '3.5 per cent rule' on the podcast Pod Save America.
According to her research, if 3.5 per cent of the population participates in sustained, nonviolent protest, it can bring about significant political change.
Whether the protests in the US will ever reach the 3.5 per cent mark remains uncertain. So far, the numbers are far lower.
But Lengle believes they are making progress, and that researchers outside the US, including those in Norway, have a vital role to play.
"We need researchers to raise their voices, demand that our politicians put pressure on the Trump administration, document the harmful health effects of its policies, and stand in solidarity with health activists," says Lengle.
"Academia in Norway and across Europe has deep ties with institutions in the US, and we must speak out clearly to demand health and justice for all," she says.
