Trump White House Cites Fringe Doctor to Defend Research Cuts
UCSF professor Vinay Prasad emerges as rationalizer-in-chief for Trump’s NIH cuts
Written by Nick Tsergas Published: 2/14/25
The Trump administration announced unprecedented cuts to research funding last week. Universities, scientists and even Red-state senators warn that the abrupt removal of billions of science dollars will force lab-closures and mass layoffs of researchers.
While a federal judge has blocked the cuts from going through, for now, the move has sparked widespread opposition from the public and academics. On the other side of the issue, among the most ardent proponents of the cuts, is Dr. Vinay Prasad.
A professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco, Prasad initially made a name for himself through his staunch opposition to the government’s COVID-19 pandemic response.
Prasad has authored dozens of research and opinion articles critical of measures to control the pandemic—masks, vaccination, antiviral-use—including cross-publishing a blog with the Brownstone Institute. Brownstone is a dark money think tank that claims to defend intellectual freedoms and promote free speech, but is in truth aimed at reshaping public health along the lines of anarcho-capitalist ideology.
Prasad has also taken aim at Dr. Anthony Fauci. In a post to X last October, he said he believed Fauci had done more damage to public health than Robert Kennedy Jr., the fringe anti-vaccine activist who now serves as Donald Trump’s Health and Human Services Secretary.
One of many online comments Prasad has written in response to critiques of Trump’s NIH cuts.
Prasad’s boosterism of the government’s drastic NIH cuts has been sufficiently enthusiastic that the White House cited his comments in an email to its press listattacking The Washington Post. The email, which accused The Post of “lying to its readers,” was in response to an article describing the devastating impacts to American research, if the NIH cuts are implemented as-proposed.
Since garnering a sizable social media audience in 2020, Prasad has been known for his charged online conduct—especially toward those who disagree with him.
Among those who’ve faced Prasad’s ire is Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the University of Saskatchewan, who thinks Prasad appears to be vying for a Trump administration appointment. "He’s a perpetual grifter and he’s always angling for something," she said.
Rasmussen and Prasad have a history of tense exchanges on X.
Dr. David Gorski, a surgical oncologist with Wayne State University, has been highly critical of Prasad’s brand of pandemic-contrarianism. Gorski, who runs the blog Science-Based Medicine, says Prasad “absolutely” seems to be angling for a leadership position in the new administration.
Important Context reached out to Prasad via email to ask if he is indeed hoping for an appointment to a leadership role in the new administration. He did not respond by the time of publication.
Last year, Prasad appeared on Robert Kennedy Jr.’s MAHA website as a nominee for a leadership position in the then-upcoming administration. Economist Jay Bhattacharya, Trump’s pick to head the NIH and longtime COVID herd immunity advocate and vaccine doubter, was also a MAHA nominee. Bhattacharya had received 890 votes from site users, in addition to a ringing endorsement from Prasad in early November.
In a blog last week, Prasad wrote that the current model of NIH research funding contributes to bloated bureaucracies within higher education, and said Trump’s cuts “might even mean more science.”
Jeffrey Gold, president of the University of Nebraska, told students and faculty in a letter last week, that the policy won’t save any money, but will instead transfer research costs from the federal government to state taxpayers, while “intentionally [reducing] the scale and scope of our research programs.”
Speaking with Fox news last week, Prasad accused universities and research institutions of benefiting from "sweetheart deals," adding, "The American people don't know where that money is going."
Prasad was paid $310,068.00 last year according to the University of California’s compensation directory. Other, more opaque sources of income have been enumerated in conflict of interest statements, which began appearing in his research articles as far back as 2017.
A conflict statement from an Oct., 2023 paper reads:
"V.P. receives research funding from Arnold Ventures through a grant made to UCSF and royalties for books and writing from Johns Hopkins Press, MedPage and the Free Press; and declares consultancy roles with UnitedHealthcare and OptumRX. In addition, V.P. hosts the podcasts, Plenary Session, VPZD and Sensible Medicine; writes the newsletters, Sensible Medicine, the Drug Development Letter, and VP’s Observations and Thoughts; and runs the YouTube channel Vinay Prasad MD MPH, which collectively earn revenue on the following platforms: Patreon, YouTube and Substack."
Prasad has 250,000 subscribers across YouTube and Substack alone. His total income from paid subscriptions, in addition to his consultancy fees and royalties, isn’t known.
David Fisman, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Toronto who has also had public disagreements with Prasad, said, “The people attacked by him are basically a who’s who of competence and decency in public health. So as far as that goes, it’s an honor to have made the list.”
