We're over half way through the Fed fiscal year.
AHRQ FY26 appropriation: $345M
Amount obligated to date: $0
New AHRQ funding curves up at Grant Witness:
grant-witness.us/funding_curv...
AHRQ supports work to lower healthcare costs and improve outcomes. This is what Trump is unlawfully gutting.
Dear Member of Congress: The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA) are deeply grateful for the longstanding bipartisan support from Congress for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). We want to inform you of current and likely impacts of delays and changes in funding policies and procedures for NIH grants. Our concerns relate to the following areas within NIH: • Massive reduction in notice of funding opportunities • Delays in funding processes and inadequate capacity to administer grants • Increase in forward funding of multiyear awards in year one • Delays and potential lapses in funding for large clinical trial networks and clinical trial units Lack of transparency around permitted international collaborative partners for research projects • Disproportionate impact of grant terminations on vulnerable populations, especially women and people of color
U.S. infectious disease research is on the brink. Without immediate action from Congress, much of it will cease to exist within a year.
For example👇
1️⃣ No collaborative RFAs posted for >1 year (normal: many / year).
2️⃣ No foreign collaborators allowed on grants.
🧪🪦 www.idsociety.org/globalassets...
If current cuts to the Federal Science Budget proposed by the White House are approved by Congress, that will far-and-away be the largest cut to science since the United States began funding it.
Republicans & Democrats alike know there’s no surer path to Making America Not-Great.
DOGGETT: Doesn't your budget propose another 12% cut for NIH?
VOUGHT: Most of what you said is untrue. NIH was not cut at all--
D: My Q is don't you propose another 12% cut?
VOUGHT: We propose a cut
D: Is it your feeling that we just can't afford to invest more in doing something about cancer?
Getting a form noncompliant email because you didn't file a "Termination notice" for a wrongfully terminated diversity F31.
Photo of middle-aged woman with curly blond hair, wearing a tweed jacket.
🧠 Big news! We're proud to congratulate our department chair, Elizabeth Buffalo (@bethbuffalo.bsky.social) on her election as a 2025 AAAS Fellow! This honor recognizes her outstanding contributions to science and society. We couldn't be more proud! 🎉
#Neuroscience #AAAS #AAASSFellows #UW🍾
Scientists study aging dogs for clues to human longevity
Can old dogs teach humans new tricks for how to live longer, healthier lives? A nationwide dog study of aging dogs hopes to find some answers. cbsn.ws/4lG9JtG
The Rowe family dog Ralph was one of many canines who participated in a study of the drug rapamycin. Scientists were able to gain new insights into its effectiveness as a treatment for dementia by studying his brain. cbsn.ws/4dATw74
Yes, confirming reports that OMB has processed its full-year apportionment to NIH, giving the agency the ability to obligate funds from the spending bill signed into law on Feb 3!
From what I can tell, there are no footnotes that would indicate OMB is further delaying the process.
Interviews with 30 researchers who responded to our @statnews.com survey on the impacts of federal science policy brought the human toll of changes at NIH into sharp focus. In addition to today's special report, @aniloza.bsky.social & I bring you 3 vignettes. 👇
www.statnews.com/2026/03/19/n...
OMB has posted the full-year apportionments for NIH.
openomb.org/file/11511545
I believe this means that NIH now has the spending authority to fund grants!
There may be nuances and I will be tracking these as best I can.
Along with his COVID disinformation, this is Podcast Jay's permanent legacy.
Do not disturb: Otterly exhausted
O'Neill, an investor in anti-aging technology who worked on HHS policy, would be the first non-scientist or engineer to lead NSF. His background will be a 'major concern' to the science and technology community, former NSF director Neal Lane told me.
@maxkozlov.bsky.social and I report:
7/ In reality, my colleagues still inside NIH tell me that their assessments are largely ignored.
Once a grant or application is picked up by the tool, they are almost never able to move the grant forward as is - regardless of the scientific justification.
There's a common misconception that zoonotic viruses require significant adaptation to jump from animals to cause human epidemics.
Not so 👇.
Further, we see clear signs of 1977 flu experiencing cell passage, prior to epidemic.
SARS-CoV-2? Business as usual.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
This is a marvelous change not only for the Humpback whale 🐋 population but for all of us. We need to keep our gentle giants from going extinct.
Fifty years after New Zealand stopped whaling, humpback population showing signs of recovery | RNZ News share.google/X1HB3JFgaePK...
The meeting of the United States Preventative Services Task Force has been canceled again—another attack on public health by RFK Jr.
This is an independent group that reviews scientific research for things like cancer screenings. Their recommendations must be covered by insurance.
MAHA!
This is a remarkable study. A simple sanitary pad could transform cervical cancer screening. Researchers enrolled 3,000+ women (age 20–54) & compared 2 approaches:
Standard clinician-collected cervical HPV test
HPV testing from menstrual blood collected on a sanitary pad
www.bmj.com/content/392/...
Steve is pleased. We don't know what about and everyone is afraid to ask.
In today's good news a single dose drug for sleeping sickness that could completely change the elimination game. Dare I hope for eradication!
Acoziborole administered as a single oral dose was ~95% effective across both early and late-stage disease in RCTs.
www.science.org/content/arti...
“In summary, excising RNA vaccine research from the NIH research portfolio is antithetical to current goals of making America healthy.”
Grateful to join the great @akelvinlab.bsky.social on why we need to document the impact of MAHA funding cuts to understand the grave consequences that will follow
And yet universities continue behaving as though a heartfelt plea to Russ Vought will convince this administration on the merits to stop impounding funds and dismantling the agencies.
You still had 100 characters left to use after the text in this post. You could have included this sentence (69 characters).
There is no evidence that ivermectin works as a treatment for cancer.
Our Surgeon General nominee doesn’t have a license to practice medicine but does have a pending FTC complaint for failing to disclose her financial relationships the majority of times she promoted (woo) products during the period between Jan 1, 2024-Aug 8, 2025 (from her own financial disclosures)
This is a graph of the death of US science.
“In a pair of recent interviews with STAT, Plotkin expressed dismay at seeing the achievements of his career & his field slip away. He knows what lies ahead…
“All I can say is that I’m beginning to regret having lived so long —because we’re going downhill,” Plotkin said” @jackiantonovich.bsky.social
Amid the turmoil, Sam Beyda, a 24-year-old who has never previously worked in public health, has assumed a prominent role at the agency, according to current and former officials. While at the CDC, O'Neill was often absent, those officials said, and he deputized Beyda to run much of the agency's day-to-day operations for him, people familiar with the matter said. Beyda, a 2023 graduate of Columbia University, is based in Washington, D.C., but frequently travels to the CDC's Atlanta headquarters. An internal document in November listed Beyda as leading five of 16 new strategic initiatives, including updating the CDC's agencywide response to outbreaks and crises, downsizing animal research and enhancing surveillance of novel pathogens. Some longtime CDC staffers have credited Beyda with being a quick study and making an effort to ask questions and learn on the ioh Ona coninr novear And ofniol enid Pando
But others say Beyda isn't qualified for a senior role that is often filled by someone with a master's in public health or years of experience in the federal government. Beyda executed January's widespread grant cuts to state and local health departments that the CDC then quickly rescinded, people familiar with the matter said. The administration moved forward about two weeks later with roughly $600 million in grant cuts to four states led by Democrats, a move now held up in court. Beyda was also deeply involved in a chaotic wave of firings at the CDC during the October government shutdown, according to people familiar with the matter, which saw more than a thousand employees laid off only for hundreds to later be reinstated. Beyda is one of at least a dozen political appointees at the agency, representing a larger number than in previous administrations, according to two current employees. The new political appointees wield significant power over the CDC's
Letting a 24 year old lead hundreds of millions of grants cuts at CDC…
abcnews.com/Health/flori... #IDSky
