Science and Industry Need to Push Back Hard

The days of strongly worded letters, statements to the press, white papers, and op-eds are over. The people dismantling science are coming at all we care about with a pliers and a blowtorch.

If I have learned anything in the past year as founder of Stand Up for Science, it is that most of the people who value science and have made money in science-based industries are silent. The silence is harmful.

As Martin Luther King said:

“The greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.”

A few are speaking out, like Peter Kolchinsky of RA Capital Management, and Noubar Afeyan most recently. Afeyan’s annual letter for 2026 from Flagship Pioneering was spot on; “man-made miracles” of science are all around us.

For the first time in human history about one-third of babies born aren’t dying before they reach adulthood. We have utterly extraordinary treatments and cures for wicked diseases such as HIV, depression, various cancers, and diabetes. We’ve put a man on the moon, reached the bottom of the ocean, and accurately predicted the weather to save thousands of lives a year.

These “man-made miracles” of science did not happen by accident. The ecosystem — everything across the research and development continuum — that has created these “miracles” is in deep danger.

These courageous statements from leaders of the biopharma community are rare and extremely important. It is one prong of the campaign to defend science, but not the only one.

I founded Stand Up for Science in February 2025 because existing organizations who advocate for science were not meeting the moment. My view is that science needs brass knuckles.

We are not your grandmother’s science advocacy nonprofit. In the final three months of 2025, we made over 4.5 billion impressions across all our communications channels. This was from completely earned media coverage, not a cent of paid advertising.

We have mobilized hundreds of thousands of citizens in over 200 peaceful protests across the globe, supported federal scientists at the NIH, NSF, EPA, NASA, and FEMA in whistleblowing, held double the number of Congressional meetings as legacy science organizations, launched viral messaging campaigns, and secured sponsorship of and helped draft the articles of impeachment against Secretary Kennedy filed in the House of Representatives on Dec. 10.

Stand Up for Science is just getting started. 

Why you are needed in the fight for science

The threats to science, and public health, are clear and present.

I could publish a list of the economic damages that will befall the biopharma and healthcare sectors by having a man who doesn’t believe in germ theory running Health and Human Services. Anti-vaccine policy at HHS isn’t just bad for the vaccine business – it’s bad for kids and families everywhere. The world needs people with wealth and power to provide a voice that extends to the voiceless because it is the right thing to do, not just because it is the fiscally responsible thing to do.

In the US, science and democracy are so thoughtfully linked that science has a place in our Constitution (Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8, which established the foundation in law for patents and copyrights). Indeed, a thriving scientific–and intellectual–ecosystem is critical to a healthy democracy. What is happening in the United States right now, is way bigger than whether the FDA is going to approve your new drug. A government banning the word “woman” from grant applications is not a sign of a society moving toward a freer and brighter future. 

Science itself can be twisted from a method of unbiased inquiry into a weapon.

Secretary Kennedy is pulling apart all protections against biotech and pharma companies to allow people with perceived “vaccine injuries” to sue vaccine makers. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is run by fervent anti-vaxxers, making changes to vaccine recommendations without new evidence of harm. Members of the public are left confused.  

The CDC has proposed funding appallingly unethical experimentation on babies in the west African nation of Guinea Bissau. The CDC-backed study – currently suspended by local health authorities – would withhold the hepatitis B vaccine from thousands of newborns in a placebo group, making them vulnerable to infection with hepatitis B, a chronic liver damaging disease, in a nation where more than 20% of the population is positive for hepatitis B.

HHS is systematically dismantling the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Kennedy is railing against selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI’s) for depression.

The list goes on. The HHS leadership is tearing down our pandemic monitoring systems, cancelling Sudden Infant Death Prevention programs, defunding addiction treatment centers, threatening doctors who provide gender affirming care, and have disrupted clinical trials impacting over 75,000 people. 

But these wrongs are not occurring in a vacuum. Outside of science, America is not okay. In 2026, the same people who are allowing ICE to violate our constitutional rights, calling for the US to invade sovereign nations, and rubber-stamping consolidation of power to the Executive, are in control of American science. Having read a few history books, I can say with confidence, good things do not ever come from oppressive governments interfering in science on ideological grounds.

I’ve spent a lot of time with members of Congress in the last six months. I have two key takeaways: 1) the political tools of old will not work in this moment and 2) making any assumption of good will is a mistake comparable to bringing a white paper to a gun fight.

The civic duty of everyone privileged enough to live in a democracy is to stand up, where we can, if the democracy is in peril. This is what Benjamin Franklin meant when he said, “a republic, if you can keep it.” Right now, we can Stand Up for Science to prevent science from being used as a weapon against the public and to protect democracy in our corner of society.

How you can fight for science (and democracy) in a few steps

The first step in fixing a problem is admitting you have one…and then endeavoring to fix it.

It is an uncomfortable moment in history. It is difficult for scientifically minded people who rail against black and white thinking for a living. We have a moral obligation to push back against these damaging policies.

The second step is out of your comfort zone.

We can embrace a new identity: science activist. We can take off the gloves, put on the brass knuckles, and (nonviolently) fight! We look to our predecessors, such as Jacques Monod, Nikolai Vavilov, Albert Einstein, Paul Langevin–leading scientists who leveraged their positions to take a stand against authoritarianism, in many cases, at great cost. I would be remiss not to include Alex Pretti, nurse and researcher at the Minneapolis VA, among this esteemed list of principled science activists. He was murdered by ICE on Jan. 24 while assisting a woman who had fallen after being pepper sprayed.

The third step is putting your money where your mouth is.

The MAHA Action Fund has a war chest of tens of millions of dollars they are using right now, as you read this, to spread misinformation. 

I’m eager to enlist scientists to fight against that machine. I’ve talked to leaders in this sector–folks who have made their billions–and I’m tired of hearing “I agree with you, but…”

Talk is cheap. If you see what is happening in the US, right now and you are standing on the sidelines, you are a part of the problem. If you read this and Afeyan’s letter and are ready to really do something: put your money where your mouth is. Stand Up for Science cannot turn hot air into resistance, but we can turn money into people power and cutting-edge communications. We can break through to people and be heard in a flooded media environment. 

Here is how you can Stand Up for Science: 

1. Contact your member of the House of Representatives and tell them to co-sponsor the articles of impeachment against RFK Jr. 
2. Attend a March 7th Stand Up for Science protest.
3. Speak out when you get the chance. We need people in powerful positions to normalize choosing a side. 
4. Donate to Stand Up for Science. We are science insurance for the discovery pipeline. We are also on offense, mobilizing scientists and pro-science members of the public in direct action in support of science and democracy. 
5. Share this op-ed with your networks and join a SUFS Local chapter! We need science fighters in every state.

Colette Delawalla is the founder and CEO of Stand Up for Science. colette@standupforscience.net