NIH Funds Still Not Getting to Researchers Congress approved a budget more than a month ago, but awards are lagging

Russell Vought's OMB is continuing to hold up funds at NIH.
www.medpagetoday.com/publichealth...

Current NIH leadership want you to think they are using rigorous, consistent & scientific processes to screen studies to align them with agency priorities.

But the process that they have put down on paper is a sham.

It’s important to know NIH is not following its own guidance. Here’s why:

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Institutional training grants (T32)

In FY 2026, there have been 26 T32 awards (not including 2 supplements). All are competitive renewals

This compares with 66 incl 22 new or comp renewal awards through 2/27 in FY2025 and 86 incl 27 new or competitive renewal awards through 2/27 in FY2024.

7/9

Measles was wiped out in the U.S. 25 years ago and now we’re already past 1,000 cases in February because vaccination rates dropped below the safety line. This is what happens when public health gets gutted and people stop trusting basic science.

Notes on winter When the world turns whimsical

Wild fact from @billmckibben.bsky.social's latest newsletter:

"The last colder-than-average month on planet earth was in February of 1985, which means that no one under the age of forty has ever known one."

An extraordinary loss of institutional knowledge. 🧪

Subcommittee Markup of the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act | United States Senate Committee on Appropriations United States Senate Committee on Appropriations

🧪 BREAKING (good news): Senate subcommittee says NO! to Trump's proposed slashes to NASA & NSF funding.

Today, the subcommittee said to keep NASA + NSF funding at $33.9 billion, the same as in FY24.

See 7:15 below. Full Senate appropriations committee meets tomorrow about it.

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RFK Jr is insane
bsky.app/profile/pale...

Our NSF HSI STEM grant w/ @drmtrujillo.bsky.social & Dr. Olga Calderon was terminated today. The goal was to help community college students transition to 4 yr schools and train them in wastewater epidemiology. We had an amazing 1st cohort and had a strong positive impact on their lives.

NIH halts funding for new projects with foreign collaborators, citing national security concerns NIH announced it will no longer allow subawards to foreign institutions, as part of a national security-minded overhaul to how it manages research funding

The #NIH will no longer allow researchers working on its grants have sub-awards in other countries, a common practice that allows US scientists to investigate questions that cannot be studied in this country. @mmolteni.bsky.social reports. www.statnews.com/2025/05/01/n...

This is like having a NASA director who rejects gravity.

Congratulations to the brilliant @heidihamm.bsky.social for her well-deserved election to the #NAS!
www.nasonline.org/news/2025-na...

Senior Faculty Pledging to Donate a Portion of Salary in Defense of University Community Senior Faculty Pledging to Donate a Portion of Salary in Defense of University Community We are heartened by the University’s rejection of the Trump administration’s unlawful demands. We also recogn...

More than 80 Harvard faculty members have signed on to a pledge to donate 10% of their paycheck to support staff and students, as long as the University resists Trump's unlawful demands. I am so proud of my colleagues. docs.google.com/document/d/1...

ICE backs down, says it will restore status of thousands of foreign students Hundreds of foreign students in the U.S. on F-1 visas said they were informed their SEVIS records were suddenly terminated by DHS.

BREAKING: In a sudden about-face, a DOJ attorney saiys ICE will be RESTORING the status of thousands of foreign students whose SEVIS records were terminated w/o notice earlier this month.

The move comes amid mounting losses in courts around the country.
www.wusa9.com/article/news...

Awesome!

Trump Officials Freeze $1 Billion for Cornell and $790 Million for Northwestern The funding pause amid civil rights investigations into both universities sharply escalates the Trump administration’s campaign against elite colleges.

Million alarm fire everyone 🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/08/u...

🚨 BREAKING: I'm suing #RFKJr @ #HHS & #JayBhattacharya @ #NIH

Canceling medical research grants threatens innovations benefiting ALL Americans, no matter your politics! 🇺🇸

Thanks to my lawyers @aclu.org @aclum.bsky.social @protectdemocracy.org & @cspi.bsky.social

Long 🧵 on why I'm suing 👇

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Doctor Behind Award-Winning Parkinson’s Research Among Scientists Purged From NIH Leading scientists at the National Institutes of Health, the US’s leading medical research agency, were swept up Tuesday in the Trump administration's latest firing blitz.

NEW: No fewer than 10 principle scientists at NIH investigating emerging infectious diseases and neural disorders were among those fired by RFK Jr. today.

One is an esteemed scientist awarded for breakthrough research into the causes of Parkinson's disease.

By me and @emilymullin.bsky.social:

American women friends. Are you aware one of the policies listed in the SAVE Act, the GOP are pushing through, is that women’s birth certificate names must match your current name. All of it. Changed your name when you got married? You won’t be able to vote.

Call your Congress members!

The U.S is the wealthiest country in the history of the world. We should not have the highest rate of child poverty of nearly every major country on earth. We should have the lowest.
 
It's time to end this international embarrassment & create an economy that works for all.

If @booker.senate.gov can stand up for 17 hours (and counting), we can stand for each other.

On April 5th, find your place to stand up: handsoff2025.com?utm_source=s...

@standupforscience.bsky.social

Also caught up in today's RIFs: Anthony Fauci's wife Christine Grady, who led the NIH's bioethics office, per NYT.

a red warning light is lit up in front of a building ALT: a red warning light is lit up in front of a building

The horror show continues at NIH

I am hearing (reliably) that RIFs have started with entire institute Communication branches being terminated since their jobs not longer exist (reduction in force).

But that is not all...

The situation at the NIH and for all biomedical and cancer cure research in the United States is MUCH MUCH WORSE than you realize.

Wow. Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum officially recognizes Palestine as a state. Here she welcomes Palestinian ambassador Nadya Rasheed.

Sheinbaum is Jewish, supports Palestinian self-determination, & unapologetically condemns Netanyahu's attacks on Gaza.

Historic & inspiring leadership. ❤️✊🏽

A friend drove two hours today for her breast cancer chemotherapy only to learn it was canceled due to NIH cuts. Clinical trial ended midstream. No treatment, no restart, no plan, no information. Her bro-in-law's chemo was also canceled.

Jessica: When I hear Republicans out there talking about their plan for education in America, I don't hear them talking about making sure disabled kids have access to a public education.


Greg: Because we're against it.