Dr. Terry J. Smith, a leading American scientist and professor of endocrinology and neuro-ophthalmology at the University of Michigan, has warned that funding cuts under the Trump administration could undermine progress in public health research, including therapies for serious conditions such as thyroid eye disease.
In an interview with Ynetnews, Smith said the administration’s priorities signal a “drastic reduction in public investment in understanding diseases that have public health consequences,” which could hamper the development of therapies and diagnostic tools.
How one discovery change thousands of lives
(Video: Mickey Schmidt)
“We are very cognizant of the fact that this reduction in support may result in us being far less effective in developing therapies and new diagnostic tools to identify individuals who will benefit from those therapies,” he said.
Smith is credited with a pioneering discovery in the field of thyroid diseases, having identified the receptor central to the development of thyroid eye disease (TED). The discovery led to the creation of the first and only approved treatment for the condition, a rare achievement in modern medicine. “For the first time, at least in TED, we have a drug that gets to the mechanistic heart of its cause,” he said.
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Thyroid eye disease is significantly more common in women and frequently goes unrecognized, Smith explained. “It is often unrecognized and therefore is not optimally managed,” he said, adding that greater awareness and research could improve outcomes.
A long-time researcher in molecular biology, Smith said his aim has been to develop therapies that are both effective and minimally invasive. “The therapies that we’ve been involved with have the potential of doing far more than masking the disease,” he noted.
Reflecting on the broader implications of his work, Smith emphasized the rare privilege of seeing a discovery translate into a life-changing treatment. “We think that this is something that we all aspire to as a group of physicians and scientists—not only that we take care of these patients, but that we potentially innovate in a way that leads to a therapy and potentially to a cure,” he said.