Then VA research revealed that medication was just as effective as surgery. "So instead of sending a patient to a urologist for a surgeon, I could prescribe a pill," said Fihn, who worked at the VA for 36 years as both a physician and a medical researcher.

Dr. Fihn lists similar examples: The nicotine patch, the first liver transplant, CT scans and pretty much all the little rapid test strips used to detect everything from pregnancy to COVID are the result of VA-funded research. Congress authorized nearly $1 billion in VA research last year, but Fihn and several colleagues warn that it's all under threat. Sponsor Message

"Sudden, arbitrary personnel decisions are placing thousands of researchers and tens of millions of dollars of ongoing research at risk and threatening the future of a $2 billion research enterprise that extends back more than 80 years," Fihn wrote in a recent piece he co-authored in JAMA Internal Medicine.