Is the states now on par with Uganda as far as scientific academic freedom? Decide yourself with the list below:
Scientist and move | Documented reason for leaving | Doctoral thesis | Area of research |
Pleuni Pennings â€" San Francisco State University â†' University of Montpellier, France, 2025 | Her department lost NIH training grants that supported students in her lab. She also cited poor funding prospects and concerns about returning as a foreign national. Her accountâ | “Models of Adaptation and Speciation†â€" LMU Munich, 2007. Academic biographyâ | Evolutionary biology, especially how HIV and bacteria developâ€"and sometimes loseâ€"resistance to drugs. |
Kevin C. Klatt â€" UC Berkeley â†' University of Toronto, Canada, 2025 | Said the administration’s repeated funding cuts, reversals and proposed reductions helped tip his decision toward Canada. Toronto’s nutrition program also attracted him. STAT interviewâ | “Phosphatidylcholines: Beyond the Membrane†â€" Cornell University, 2018. Examined how these fats affect metabolism and nutrition. Dissertationâ | Molecular nutrition, micronutrient metabolism and nutritional requirements during pregnancy. University profileâ |
Gabriela Lobinska â€" Harvard Medical School â†' AITHYRA, Vienna, Austria, by February 2026 | The grant paying her salary was cut in spring 2025. Uncertainty over Harvard’s ability to sponsor international researchers’ visas added to her decision. Austria offered four years of fellowship funding. TIME interviewâ | “Influence of mutation rate regulation on evolutionary adaptation†â€" Weizmann Institute of Science, 2024. Official graduate record, PDF p. 25â | Computational and evolutionary biology, including how healthy cells change into diseased cells. |
Benjamin “Ben†Weinhaus â€" University of Cincinnati â†' Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine, Münster, Germany, October 2025 | U.S. laboratories told him their remaining money had to support existing staff, limiting postdoctoral hiring. He explicitly connected his move to the administration’s funding actions. STAT interviewâ | Exact title not verified. His Cincinnati doctoral research examined how blood cells form in developing bones. Research biographyâ | Immunology, fetal bone-marrow development and blood-cell formation, called hematopoiesis. |
Megan A. K. Peters â€" UC Irvine â†' University College London, UK, summer 2026 | Said the administration’s treatment of universities and the new funding landscape prompted her to seek overseas positions. UCL offered additional funding opportunities. NPR interviewâ | “Hierarchical Bayesian Causal Inference and Natural Statistics Explain Heaviness Perception†â€" UCLA, 2014. Studied how people judge how heavy objects feel. CVâ | Cognitive neuroscience: consciousness, perception, uncertainty and how people evaluate their own knowledge. Current profileâ |
Tamara Y. Swaab â€" UC Davis â†' University of Birmingham, UK, 2026 | Cited diminished optimism about U.S. science and greater opportunities abroad. UK funding supporting her husband’s recruitment also helped their joint move; the reporting does not identify a personally cancelled grant. NPR interviewâ | “The functional locus of comprehension deficits in aphasia: An electrophysiological approach†â€" Radboud University Nijmegen, 1996. Supervisor’s dissertation recordâ | Cognitive neuroscience of languageâ€"how the brain understands language, including comprehension difficulties following brain injury. Lab profileâ |
George “Ron†Mangun â€" UC Davis â†' University of Birmingham, UK, 2026 | U.S. research uncertainty and British recruitment funding contributed to the move. He also emphasized new colleagues and scientific opportunities. NPR interviewâ | Exact title not verified. PhD in Neurosciences, UC San Diego, 1987. University recordâ | Neuroscience of attention: how brain networks select relevant information and suppress distractions, using brain imaging and electrical recordings. |
Y. Shirley Meng â€" University of Chicago â†' Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, July 2026 | Cited Trump’s retreat from clean energy and restrictions affecting international researchers. Her major research hub’s funding had not been cut, so this is primarily a policy-related departure. Reported interviewâ | “Combining Ab initio computation with experiments for designing/understanding high energy density electrode materials for advanced lithium batteries†â€" Singaporeâ€"MIT Alliance, 2005. Thesis listingâ | Battery materials and energy storage, including batteries for electric vehicles and electricity grids. NTU appointmentâ |
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Your table of fleeing scientists is persuasive, but the jump from funding cuts to “Uganda” is doing Olympic gymnastics. Still, the footnotes are annoyingly attractive—nothing says trouble like a man weaponizing citations and pretending the conclusion is settled.