Meghan Gutierrez, CEO of the Lymphoma Research Foundation

Summary

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Podcast Summary

Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

Guest: Meghan Gutierrez, CEO, Lymphoma Research Foundation
Host: Scott Becker
Date: October 10, 2025
Main Theme:
A deep dive into the impact of NIH funding uncertainties on cancer research, especially lymphoma, and the resulting challenges and opportunities for researchers, patients, and rare disease communities. Meghan Gutierrez shares industry insights, patient perspectives, and the Foundation's evolving strategies.

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Episode Overview

Meghan Gutierrez, CEO of the Lymphoma Research Foundation (LRF), joins Scott Becker to discuss:

• The impact of proposed NIH funding cuts on scientific research
• The cascading challenges faced by researchers, patients, and rare disease communities during periods of uncertainty
• How the LRF is adapting its programs to support early-career scientists and maintain hope for innovative treatments

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Lymphoma Research Foundation: Mission and Scope

Timestamp: 00:27

• LRF aims to “realize the promise of science to eradicate lymphoma and serve the community that's been touched by this disease.”
• Lymphoma is the most common blood cancer, with over 120,000 annual diagnoses and more than 100 subtypes.
• LRF invests millions annually in research and provides free education and support resources.

“We invest millions of dollars annually in lymphoma specific research and then we use this expertise to create free education and support resources for patients and their care partners.”
— Meghan Gutierrez [00:27]

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2. NIH Funding Cuts: Concerns and Early Fallout

Timestamp: 01:36

• The Trump administration proposed a 40% cut to NIH funding (from $48B to $27B).
• Initial shock across the cancer research community: scientists revised projects, reduced hiring, and slowed progress.
• By late summer, grant-making had improved, with NIH awards catching up to $31B, offering slight encouragement.
• The community is working to educate policymakers about long-term implications as next year's appropriations are considered.

“Researchers in our network began to revise plans and projects...reducing the number of fellows or young scientists...others anticipated having to slow the pace of projects.”
— Meghan Gutierrez [01:36]

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3. Funding Stability: Policy, Practice & Research Implications

Timestamp: 03:27

• Stable, predictable funding is crucial for sustaining scientific progress and training.
• Unpredictability endangers multi-year/collaborative research and the retention of scientific staff.
• NIH may consider a shift to multi-year upfront grants—potentially supporting fewer, but more secure projects.
• Advocacy and dialogue with legislators are critical to making the scientific case for stable funding models.

“Maintaining consistent long term research program requires stable and predictable funding...in the absence of this consistency, scientists struggle to retain staff...”
— Meghan Gutierrez [03:27]

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4. Patient and Family Concerns Amid Uncertainty

Timestamp: 05:13

• Uncertainty in funding isn’t just academic: patients are seeking reassurance and clearer explanations about access to new treatments.
• At LRF’s annual educational forum (1,500+ registrants), the session on research funding drew significant attention and concern.

“People living with lymphoma are concerned about the impact that any confusion or uncertainty in Washington may have on the state of research and their ability to access new treatments...”
— Meghan Gutierrez [05:13]

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5. Rare Diseases Face Disproportionate Threats

Timestamp: 06:28

• Rare diseases depend on already scarce research funds and personnel—a loss hits harder.
• The rare disease community is collaborating, sharing resources, and planning to weather potential gaps with private philanthropy.

“Any reduction is magnifying, leaving patients at disproportionate risk. The uncertainty and funding landscape compounds these challenges...”
— Meghan Gutierrez [06:28]

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6. LRF’s Response: Supporting Early-Career Researchers

Timestamp: 07:36

• LRF is doubling down on supporting early-career and junior scientists to prevent “an exodus” from the field.
• Three new grant programs launched, including the Clinical Career Development Award.
  • Application volume doubled compared to 2024, reflecting high demand.
• The Foundation balances optimism for new research with concern for sustaining the field.

“We really want to ensure that we're not leaving behind some young clinician scientists who are prepared to dedicate their entire career to lymphoma research.”
— Meghan Gutierrez [07:36]

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7. Advancements and What’s Next

Timestamp: 09:03

• Lymphoma research has spurred progress in precision medicine and immunotherapy beyond hematologic cancers.
• Example: CAR-T cell therapy developed for lymphoma now benefits other cancers and is being studied for autoimmune diseases.
• LRF is determined to continue innovating, “potentially with less resource,” to deliver therapies to patients.

“CAR T cell therapy was originally used to treat lymphoma...is now being used in a wide variety of cancers and is also being studied to autoimmune disease.”
— Meghan Gutierrez [09:03]

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Notable Quotes and Moments

• “Delays between the laboratory and the living room”: Gutierrez frames how research uncertainty directly impacts patients’ day-to-day realities.
  [05:13]

• “Progress in lymphoma treatment has led the charge in precision medicine and immunotherapy...”
  [09:03]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:27 – Introduction to LRF and the scale of lymphoma
• 01:36 – Initial impact of proposed NIH funding cuts
• 03:27 – Importance of stable funding and possible NIH grant model shifts
• 05:13 – Patient and family response to research uncertainty
• 06:28 – Amplified threats to rare diseases
• 07:36 – LRF’s early-career support and grant expansion
• 09:03 – Lymphoma research’s impact on precision medicine and next steps

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Conclusion

Meghan Gutierrez brings a clear-eyed, compassionate, and strategic perspective to the evolving landscape of cancer research funding. Despite real threats posed by political and budget instability, the Lymphoma Research Foundation is intensifying its efforts to support both current patients and the next generation of scientists, ensuring that hope and progress remain central to their mission.

Transcript

[A]

This is Scott Becker with the Becker Healthcare Podcast. We're thrilled today to be joined by the leader of the Lymphoma Research foundation, the CEO Megan Gutierrez. Megan does a tremendous job. She's going to talk to us today about trends in funding, NIH cuts, what it means for science and what's happening out there in the field, and a lot more. Megan, can you take a moment and introduce yourself and tell us about the Lymphoma Research Foundation?

[B]

Well, first, Scott, I just wanted to thank you for inviting me to be with you today. The Lymphoma Research Foundation's mission is to realize the promise of science to eradicate lymphoma and serve the community that's been touched by this disease. Lymphoma is the most common form of blood cancer with roughly 120,000 diagnoses annually. And while I say blood cancer in the singular, we know that lymphoma is actually a heterogeneous group of diseases. In fact, there are more than 100 different subtypes of the disease. So we invest millions of dollars annually in lymphoma specific research and then we use this expertise to create free education and support resources for patients and their care partners.

[A]

Fantastic. Let's talk about NIH cuts. The Trump administration proposed major cuts to the nih. A lot of people that rely on and hire and work with scientists and PhDs and research students very concerned about how this is going to affect scientific research. Where do stand now and what's some of the fallout you're seeing? I hear it anecdotally, but you've got a better feel for it. What are you hearing and seeing?

[B]

Well, certainly earlier this year when we learned about the proposed 40% reduction in federal funds for the NIH from about 48 billion to 27 billion, there was shock, needless to say, to many of us in the cancer community. Immediately, researchers in our network began to revise plans and projects based on the information that was available at that time. Some spoke of reducing the number of fellows or young scientists they were going to be able to hire in the spring. And others anticipated having to slow the pace of projects. Still others wondered if agencies like the fda, which was also impacted by potential cuts, if they would be able to keep pace with their normal workflow. Now, in the past two months, there has been significant grant making activity coming out of the nih. In the spring, it was really looking like the agency was lagging behind due to pauses in grant proposal evaluations and RIFs. But a stat analysis that actually just came out late Last week showed that the amount of new and continued NIH grant awards that were coming out of the agency had caught up and was right around the 31 billion mark, which is very encouraging. Now the research and medical communities have also been working during the same time period to help educate policymakers on the impact of possible budget cuts as we consider HHS appropriations for the coming year.

[A]

Thank you. And what is, what is that? How do you read that? And I don't want to force you to make a political read, but is it more noise about cuts and reality about cuts? Because we do see several institutions really cutting back the amount of grants students are bringing in, the amount of grants that they're taking in, and they're very concerned about it. Is it politics or is it reality? Can you comment on what you see and if you don't feel comfortable doing so, don't.

[B]

Yeah, no. So what we do know is that maintaining consistent long term research program requires stable and predictable funding. We've seen that over the course of history and as the United States became the foremost leader in cancer research, in the absence of this consistency, scientists struggle to retain staff and plan for multi year and collaborative projects. So today, many in this community understand that we need to better understand any changes that may be made in how the NIH awards grants in addition to what the budget looks like. And I think that's where some of this education and communication with lawmakers is really going to help us elucidate this issue that you're talking about. Whether or not we are talking about appropriations, if policy, if we can help policymakers better understand the impact, but also as we think about how the NIH awards grants, because I think that is something that we also need to explore. Earlier this year, policymakers had said that the NIH should shift some of its resources to a multi year funding model, meaning that projects would be funded for multiple years up front, which would represent a potential shift in how some grants are funded. And the downstream impact could impact the total number of projects supported. So understanding even this more administrative shift, if it transpires, will be important information for researchers so they can plan accordingly. So I think all of these things taken together are part of these really important conversations to ensure that public policymakers understand the impact as they're planning for the budget. And I think that's kind of the status of where we are today.

[A]

Thank you. And you do a lot of work with families and support families. How do the families and patients react to uncertainty?

[B]

So you and I, when we often speak about the continuum of cancer research, we often speak about the bench to bedside, right? But lately, we've been spending more time thinking about delays between the laboratory and the living room. People living with lymphoma are concerned about the impact that any confusion or uncertainty in Washington may have on the state of research and their ability to access new treatments for their cancer. For example, for the first time that I can remember, patients are flooding our helpline seeking reassurance, but also just plain language answers about what nih funding decisions may mean for their lives and their lymphoma journey. I also found it really telling. This past weekend, in fact, we hosted our annual educational forum on lymphoma. It's the largest patient conference of its type with 1500 registrants. And one of the most highly anticipated sessions was one that focused on the current research landscape. Our patients, it was clear from the questions they asked, realize that the research being conducted today is what's going to accelerate tomorrow's cures, and they're nervous that they might not be able to access these treatments.

[A]

Thank you. And how is our cuts or proposed cuts or challenges affecting other rare diseases beyond lymphoma? What are you seeing in the rest of the scientific community?

[B]

So I think for all of us, we recognize that because rare diseases often start with fewer dollars and even fewer researchers, any reduction is magnifying, leaving patients at disproportionate risk. The uncertainty and funding landscape compounds these challenges as labs and institutions remain uncertain about the support levels they can anticipate or whether private philanthropy foundations like ours are going to be able to help fill the gaps. So many of us in the rare disease community have been sharing information, working together to think about where shared resources might be able to come into play to help support these researchers in the interim as best as we're able, and to continue to think of, you know, new ways of working together until we really can see what these new support levels may result in, if we can better anticipate what they may be and really help fill that gap in the interim.

[A]

Thank you and talk for a moment. Megan, what else are you watching closely currently and what are you most focused on and excited about as we get into the end of this year and moving towards next year?

[B]

Right. Well, a significant area of focus for the lymphoma research foundation is certainly going to be to stabilize and support the careers of early career and early stage scientists, to really try to prevent an exodus of postdoctoral researchers and junior investigators who may be considering leaving their careers in science or are possibly even being recruited by other countries, which is something we're seeing. We've issued requests for proposals, something I'm incredibly excited about, for three different research grants, all intended to mentor and support the best and brightest in the field and support them. To give you an example of what we're seeing today in terms of demand, which currently exists in one grant mechanism, our Clinical Career Development Award, intended to train future clinician scientists. We received 100% more applications this year compared with 2024. So we really want to ensure that we're not leaving behind some young clinician scientists who are prepared to dedicate their entire career to lymphoma research. We're excited to see the new projects, but we're also doing so with an eye of concern. And of course, our dedication to our community doesn't waver. So we will always make certain that we are available to provide the most comprehensive education and support services to our patients.

[A]

And tell us what's next for the Lymphoma Research Foundation.

[B]

So I think it's worth noting that progress in lymphoma treatments and for other hematologic malignancies have led the charge in areas like precision medicine and immunotherapy, which have actually gone on to be used to treat other cancer types and diseases. To give you just one example, car T cell therapy was originally used to treat lymphoma and is now being used in a wide variety of cancers and is also being studied to autoimmune disease. So I think in this regard, what's next for us is continuing to innovate, potentially with less resource, but continuing to be on the forefront the cutting edge of science and bringing these new therapies directly to our community.

[A]

Megan, again, thank you so much for joining us today on the Beckers Healthcare Podcast. Just a fantastic pleasure to visit with Megan Gutierrez, CEO of the Lymphoma Research Foundation. Thank you for joining us.

[B]

Thanks again, Scott. Great to see you.