In early April, when the dust settled after mass firings across HHS, workers in NCI’s communications office were relieved they still had their jobs.
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It didn’t last. A month later, HHS fired nearly all of them, three former workers said. Combined with retirements and other departures, a skeleton crew of six or seven remain of about 75 people. “We were all completely blindsided,” a fired worker said. NCI leadership “had no idea that this was happening.”
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As a result, websites, newsletters, and other resources for patients and doctors about the latest evidence in cancer treatment aren’t being updated. They include Cancer.gov and NCI’s widely used Physician Data Query, which compile research findings that doctors turn to when caring for cancer patients.
Gary Kreps, founding director of the Center for Health and Risk Communication at George Mason University, said he relied on Physician Data Query when his father was diagnosed with advanced stomach cancer, taking PDQ printouts when he met with his dad’s doctors. “It made a huge difference,” Kreps said. “He ended up living, like, another three years” — longer than expected — “and enjoyed the rest of his life.”
As of May 30, banners at the top of the Cancer.gov and PDQ websites said, “Due to HHS restructuring and reduction in workforce efforts, the information on this website may not be up to date and pages will indicate as such.” The banners are gone, but neither website was being updated, according to a fired worker with knowledge of the situation.
Outdated PDQ information is “really very dangerous,” Kreps said.
Wiping out NCI’s communications staff makes it harder to share complex and ever-changing information that doctors and patients need, said Peter Garrett, who headed NCI’s communications before retiring in May. Garrett said he left because of concerns about political interference.
“The science isn’t finished until it’s communicated,” he said. “Without the government playing that role, who’s going to step in?”
