I was recently alerted to Martin Kulldorff’s Blueprint for NIH Reform — a document that’s stirred some intense reactions among my colleagues. A few view it as a needed critique of systemic inefficiencies. Most regard it as an ideological Trojan horse—an attack on science dressed as reform. So where does the truth lie?
The short answer is: it’s complicated—and the messenger matters.
Kulldorff, once a Harvard professor and biostatistician, became a polarising figure during the COVID-19 pandemic for promoting ideas widely dismissed by the mainstream scientific community, including opposition to lockdowns, masking, and even some aspects of vaccination policy. He was also a co-author of the controversial Great Barrington Declaration, which called for herd immunity through natural infection — a strategy many experts considered unscientific and dangerous at the time.
This background understandably colors how his recent proposals are received.
But here’s the nuance: the Blueprint itself raises a number of ideas that aren’t inherently fringe. Calls for reforming NIH grant structures, enhancing academic freedom, incentivising open science, and streamlining peer review are echoed by many researchers across disciplines — including those with no ties to politicised public health debates. Frustrations with bureaucratic inefficiencies and perverse incentives in scientific funding are real and shared.
Where it becomes tricky is in the framing. Kulldorff doesn’t just argue for reform — he implies that current structures are suppressing truth, and that controversial views (like his own during the pandemic) have been silenced not because they lack merit, but because of groupthink or institutional bias. That framing, for many, crosses the line from constructive critique into undermining the scientific process itself.
There’s also a risk that pushing for more “openness” in what research gets funded — while laudable in theory — could result in resources being diverted to low-evidence, high-noise pursuits. Or, as one colleague aptly put it, “sending the ferret down an empty warren.” Science thrives on curiosity, but it also requires discipline and evidence-based filters.
Venue choice also matters. If this proposal were intended as a serious intervention into science policy, it might have been published in a mainstream medical or policy journal where it could be openly debated across the full spectrum of scientific opinion. Instead, it was published in the Journal of the Academy of Public Health — a platform co-founded and edited by Kulldorff himself, with close ties to politically conservative and contrarian public health figures. That choice raises questions about whether the article is seeking reform through consensus, or carving out space for alternative narratives that have struggled to find support in mainstream science.
So how should we engage with this?
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Acknowledge the valid points: There is room — and need — for reform in how science is funded, reviewed, and communicated.
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Be vigilant about context: Not all calls for reform are neutral. Motivations and affiliations matter, especially when public trust is on the line.
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Defend the integrity of science: We can advocate for better systems without abandoning the core principles of evidence, rigor, and accountability — including fair peer review and a balance of risk and reward.
In the end, this is not a binary question of “pro-science” vs “anti-science.” It’s about how science evolves, who gets to shape that evolution, and what values we prioritise along the way — openness, yes, but always in service of evidence and public good.
This is an independent submission, edited by D.D. Reidpath.
