Trump's 'bloodbath' is leaving docs feeling gutted

By MDLinx staff

Published April 3, 2025

Key Takeaways

Industry Buzz

"There is no other way to say this: Today is the day the CDC was essentially dissolved. What’s left is a husk. People will die as a direct result." — Boghuma K. Titanji, MD, MSc, DTM&H, PhD
"Between this restructuring and the resignation of many highly qualified with experience, it is difficult to replicate officials. It is safe to say that we are losing generational work in the sciences." — Melanie Matheu, PhD
"On the one hand, they are gutting the [HHS], and on the other hand they say they are going to make us healthy again. Both cannot be true... All of this will harm Americans, simply to deliver more money to the wealthy. Everyone should be outraged and demand better from our elected officials. Our lives depend on it." — Arghavan Salles, MD, PhD

Find more of your peers' perspectives and insights below.

It's been a hard week for those of us in medicine. The recent wave of HHS layoffs, including high level healthcare experts at the CDC, FDA, and NIH, has sparked powerful reactions from physicians on social media. Timing couldn’t be worse—healthcare systems have already reached their breaking point, and the future of public health is looking bleaker and bleaker.

The healthcare community is shaken

The layoffs, as reported by Reuters, include key personnel working on some of the most critical public health issues, such as managing potential bird flu outbreaks, dementia research, and many, many others. Healthcare professionals are increasingly feeling that the very backbone of the public health infrastructure is being compromised in real-time.

"On the one hand, they are gutting the Department of Health and Human Services, and on the other hand they say they are going to make us healthy again. Both cannot be true."

— Arghavan Salles, MD, PhD

“American scientists have dominated the Nobel Prize for decades. Now probably not so any longer. But this is no big deal compared to the terrible news that will impact all of the US and all humans who run a risk of any of the following: age, disease, trauma and suffering, said Arghavan Salles, MD, PhD on Instagram. “Eliminating the folks who work in injury prevention, violence prevention, occupational health and safety, drug and device approval, reproductive health, TB and HIV management, etc will impair our health. It’s not ambiguous. We don’t need to wait and see how this turns out.”

“All of this will harm Americans, simply to deliver more money to the wealthy. Everyone should be outraged and demand better from our elected officials. Our lives depend on it,” Dr. Salles continued.

Immunologist Melanie Matheu, PhD, described the current state of the HHS as a “bloodbath,” noting that roughly 25% of the agency’s staff are being eliminated.

“Heads of several agencies have been fired or removed, including both the deputy director and director of the National Institute of Aging. The department is saying it can no longer function. It has been decimated. This department of the HHS is responsible for funding the vast majority of Alzheimer's research in the United States,” Dr. Matheu said in an Instagram video.

“Between this restructuring and the resignation of many highly qualified with experience, it is difficult to replicate officials. It is safe to say that we are losing generational work in the sciences. By all measures, these cuts and restructurings are expected to have a significant negative impact on the R&D engine that is the United States, and therefore a significant negative impact on the economy, as well as the health and well-being of our citizens going forward.” — Melanie Matheu, PhD

Docs are sticking together

Their reactions underscore a key point: For many healthcare workers, the issue is about more than staffing. It’s about trust in the systems meant to protect public health. The loss of skilled professionals who manage crucial programs is felt deeply, not just in terms of the immediate gaps left in those programs but in the message it sends to those who are still working tirelessly to provide care.

The layoffs have reignited conversations about the importance of supporting healthcare professionals who are directly engaged with public health infrastructure. Physicians, who are often the first to see the consequences of these cuts, are pushing back against what they view as misinformed or out-of-touch policies.

While these layoffs have shaken the healthcare community, they have also sparked a wave of advocacy, with physicians uniting to protect the integrity of the health system they’ve dedicated their lives to. For doctors and healthcare professionals, this isn’t just a professional issue—it’s a personal one. The message is clear: they will continue to fight for a healthcare system that truly values those who work within it, because the stakes are too high to ignore.