US universities are losing academics to Canada, including transgender California State University philosophy professor Talia Mae Bettcher, as part of a Canadian research funding scheme worth $541 million. Bettcher, a Canadian citizen who had been teaching in Los Angeles, said she felt unsafe as a "green card-holding trans-woman" working in a field the Trump administration considers "ideological," prompting her move to the University of Waterloo. Supporters of President Trump have praised the departures online, framing them as a win for the US despite Trump having no direct role in the Canadian programme.

Bettcher is one of 63 academics recruited by Canadian institutions, alongside Harvard Medical School's Peter Caravan and University of Washington biostatistics professor Jon Wakefield, both of whom are joining the University of British Columbia. The White House has dismissed concerns over the exodus, with press secretary Liz Huston saying grant funding should reward "the best science, not politics," pointing to the administration's recent cuts to thousands of National Institutes of Health research grants in 2025.