After losing funding in the US for her study on trans athletes, this Canadian researcher is starting again

A Canadian-born researcher is back on home soil after she says her study on transgender athletes suffered setbacks and lost funding south of the border.

For two decades, Joanna Harper has been studying how hormone therapy makes a difference in the athletic performance of trans people.

In early 2024, she began working on a new project at a university in Portland, Oregon, where she was researching fitness performance levels in trans youth before and after starting puberty blockers or hormone therapy.

The project was scheduled to take five years. It ended in just 18 months.

“Once (US President) Donald Trump was elected, it certainly dawned on all of us that many things related to trans people in America were at risk,” Harper said.

“They were explicitly targeting the transgender community during the campaign, so it was understood that if Donald Trump was elected the country would become much less friendly to all things transgender, and that’s exactly what happened.”

Since taking office in January, Trump has signed several orders affecting trans people and their rights, including an order Recognizes only two genders On federal documents and others Bans biologically assigned male people Women’s participation in sporting events at the time of birth.

The US government has also done cut billions of dollars In funding scientific research as part of broader cost-cutting measures.

He said Harper’s research project was a collaborative project between four US institutions and that its funding came from athletic brand Nike.

In the spring, Harper said funding was cut and the project was canceled altogether.

Nike did not respond to CBC News’ request for comment in time for publication. This story will be updated with any response.

Although US government officials did not directly block her research, Harper believes that it was their attitudes against trans people that led to her work being overturned.

She said, “I certainly don’t blame Nike. I blame the people who put political pressure on Nike.”

Starting from Western University

With no way to continue the same type of research in the US, Harper moved back to Canada and ended up at his alma mater, Western University in London, Ontario.

He said, “There are all kinds of scientists who suddenly find that they no longer have a position or money, and they head for the exits. In general, it’s a really disappointing turn that this has happened in the United States.”

“Western has long made international talent recruitment a priority,” Florentine Strzelczyk, Western University’s provost and vice-president of academics, said in a statement to CBC News.

In the wake of US funding cuts, the school has also launched a new program He said it would support post-doctoral students affiliated with US universities by offering up to $160,000 over four years.

Continued research on trans athletes

Harper first became interested in studying trans athletes when she began her own transition in 2004 and noticed a change in her speed.

“I was running 12 percent slower and I’m a very serious runner,” she said. “Within nine months of hormone therapy I lost all my male advantage, if you like.”

Because not enough data was collected in the 18 months of her last project, Harper said she had to start from scratch.

The exact details of her next study are still being finalized and she needs to raise money, but Harper said she wants to work with local trans athletes to learn more about their varying athletic abilities.

“I don’t know what the future holds for me, but certainly no trans research will be done in the US until at least 2029, and even then, the future is somewhat risky,” she said.