Some of the departing researchers say their decision to leave Massachusetts is a few years in the making, spurred by funding cuts, canceled grants, and ever-changing policy shifts under the Trump administration. Then there’s a growing skepticism of science in the last few years, which particularly perturbed leading scientists like Phil Zamore, who studied RNA therapeutics at UMass Chan Medical School.
Canada is capitalizing on the moment.
“Things just became crystal clear that there are a very large number of remarkably intelligent and clever people that think scientists are the problem, not the solution,” said Zamore, who begins a new position at McGill next year. “You don’t have to do a lot to break the system because it is so fragile.”
Canada was not top of mind when Zamore began to look abroad for other research opportunities. Then a colleague suggested the nation’s newly announced Eddie Goldenberg Research Chairs program.
Through the Goldenberg program, the University of Toronto has gained an astrophysicist and an economist at the expense of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Boston University, respectively, and the University of British Columbia has lured two scientists from Harvard University.
Marty Meehan, president of the University of Massachusetts system, said the Canadian courtship is the latest chapter of a story he has long predicted, and one he expects will continue: the hemorrhaging of the state’s research sector. The European Union has made a similar push to become a “magnet for researchers,” and China launched a new visa to lure top talent.
“Other countries are investing billions of dollars in researchers and making it easier for them to do their work, while our country makes it more difficult,” Meehan said. “Ultimately, the Massachusetts economy is going to pay the price.”
Zamore is taking not only his life’s work, but also four additional researchers in his UMass lab with him. In an announcement, McGill said his work will “strengthen RNA therapeutics, infertility research and translational life sciences in Canada.”
“It is a tragedy for the researchers and a tragedy for our region,” said Rob McCaron, the CEO of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts. “What they’re working on, what they’re doing research on, will ultimately benefit us all.”
Meehan said talent like Zamore will be hard to replace, although the school has already named a new chair in the RNA institute.
“We hire the best people that we can get in their fields, and we do believe we have folks who will be able to take their place,” said Meehan. “But eventually, I worry long term about whether people will go into research.”
For years, Zamore thought his own research was emblematic of a longstanding American investment in science. One of the drugs he helped develop to treat patients with polyneuropathy, which the FDA approved in 2018, originated from research started in 1998.
That investment, and his whole career until this moment, has been rooted in Massachusetts.
He first studied at Harvard, earning a bachelor’s and PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology. His research into RNA proteins began as a postdoc at the Whitehead Institute at MIT. He became a professor at UMass Chan in Worcester, founded two biotech companies in Cambridge, and secured over 100 patents.
Zamore is not alone in his disillusionment with the changing research landscape, especially during the first two years of Donald Trump’s return to office. Last year, the Globe and MassINC Polling Group conducted a survey in which over 350 scientists shared that the administration’s actions threatened the state’s standing as a global hub of biomedical research.
And, last year, a report from the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce warned that key drivers of the local economy — universities and hospitals— were at risk due to federal policy changes. The report concluded that “eds and meds” produce $156 billion in economic output and nearly $4 billion in tax revenue each year, and also support more than 800,000 jobs.
The Canadian government’s wooing of researchers underscored these concerns.
In Canada, each researcher will receive guaranteed funding for eight years, with the ability to apply for a four-year extension. Some began their positions this year, and the rest will make the move ahead of the next academic school year.
The Canadian government has announced it will recruit a second class of scholars. In the meantime, Meehan said the state is taking too long to respond.
Until the Massachusetts Legislature takes action, Meehan said, it is harder for him to offer a counter to convince academics to stay put. He wants the Legislature to pass what’s called the DRIVE Act, which Governor Maura Healey proposed last year to invest $400 million in research at public and private universities. It remains in limbo in the Legislature, as part of a larger economic development package.
“Frankly, I don’t think there’s a enough of a sense of urgency,” Meehan said. “We can’t wait until this is all over and hope that we survive.”
Next year, Ray Fisman, an economist at BU, is taking his research to the University of Toronto. For years he has studied hidden influences in US politics. His new focus will be on polarization among the Canadian electorate and attitudes toward corruption.
Fisman, who grew up in London, Ontario, in Canada, made the inverse choice 30 years ago. He enrolled in a PhD program at Harvard, after graduating from McGill, and has been based in the United States ever since.
“I have loved being at BU, it has been a great institution for me, it has been a great department for me,” he said. “I am not trying to get away. In fact, it is bittersweet.”
Ethan Zuckerman, a professor of public policy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, also had a career rooted in the Commonwealth. He graduated from Williams College and took jobs at Harvard and MIT, before moving his lab on media studies to UMass Amherst five years ago.
But he said the stable funding from Canada — of which he will receive $1 million in Canadian dollars (approximately $715,000) annually for eight years — was “unheard of.”
Now in Canada, he will research how the country can compete directly with the United States by studying platform power in relation to search engines, artificial intelligence, and social media.
“Someone said, ‘Would you consider moving to one of the world’s great universities and potentially having your work funded until the end of your academic career?’” Zuckerman said. “The answer was, ‘Yeah, I’d better think about that.’”
Michaela Towfighi can be reached at michaela.towfighi@globe.com. Follow her on X @michaelatowfghi.
