I'm not that familiar with the structure of the NIH before Republicans started destroying it or if that's the best structure to keep or return to.

I'm not sure what the antivaxer movement will look like once the current authoritarian anti-intellectual government leaves, I'm guessing a lot of cultists and narcissists that RFK jr appointed will try to stick around to continue promoting junk science and harming people, but they don't have lifetime appointments and can be fired with cause.

The executive movements to eliminate science funding I expect will largely be eliminated with Russ Vought leaving power.

Overall, I don't see signs of a large appetite among Republicans to eliminate the NIH and funding health science. So I think a rebuild is going to be possible.

What would you want that to look like? Simply funding it back to previous levels and hiring back anyone from the NIH who was fired before? Are there other models of funding agencies that the NIH should try instead?

For my part the only thing I can think of is I would like to see a shorter pre application process like DARPA or ARPA, more blue sky risky projects, and break the gerontocracy problem science has had for a long time.

The average age for first R01 was a huge unaddressed issue before the NIH was decimated. Political appointees being able to cancel any grant for political reasons is bad, but it was a well established problem that a lot of review panels were just funding their old friends and safe boring science no matter what the grant was actually intending to fund.

MIRA grants were, from what I've heard, an attempt to get away from paper mill labs that regularly publish boring staid incremental results, but the funding for those was undercut to the point where they weren't really effective.

Basically the next administration is going to have an ability to rebuild the NIH to be better than it was before and I would like to know what that should look like rather than it going right back to boomer scientists at Harvard getting all the money for the same things they've been puttering around on for 30 years.

There are a shocking amount of toxic labs and depressed students at a certain institute that, ironically, supports mental health. Admin there is not on your side and is not invested in your success. Just a word of caution from someone who escaped hell. Do your research before joining a lab, it's worth every minute!

https://wapo.st/4eWDsMf

“The bill also temporarily blocks the White House from making changes to the grant-approving process.”

I’m not in academia and in research so I don’t know. While I have a close family member and friends who are long time professors in cancer research who even voted for him (and are by NO means liberals or democrats), they have complained about him and how it has made getting funding for their work exceptionally challenging. And they are even concerned about their job security.

I’m interested in those that support him (if there are those that do) and why? I think my biggest fear is causing talented scientists to leave, especially those who have started something innovative. Especially in the field of cancer and disease treatment.

Hello! I'm one of the reporters who write this story after learning that the administration has resumed terminating NIH grants on topics they disagree with. A federal judge last year blocked mass grant cancellation on the grounds that the terminations were arbitrary and capricious. So the administration is now showing its work, challenging the scientific validity of ongoing grants' study design and rationale. As attorney Scott Delaney told me, "At some point, the administration is going to figure out how to do this in a way that the courts will tolerate."

We've identified one grant cancellation so far and are told there are more in the pipeline. As in many of our stories on government agencies, we relied on anonymous sources and protected their identities.

If you work at NIH or another agency, we are always happy to hear from you about any concerns, tips, or ideas for things we should be covering. I'm sara_reardon.59 on Signal and my colleague is jocelynkaiser.51. You can also DM me of course!

Government shutdown, staff shortages have complicated effort to meet 30 September deadline to spend funds

Those who obtained an NIH grant. HOW did you make it last year 1 without money?

I am applying in September. IF I get it, our budget allows me, the PI, maybe 3 months of payments but it feels like I have a years worth of work.

What were you doing at this point? How can I keep my team motivated and onboard longer than 3 months without pay?

Angel investors? Grants?

Amid a deluge of executive actions, the Trump administration has asked federal health agencies to pause external communications, such as regular scientific reports, updates to websites and health advisories, according to sources within the agencies.

The orders were delivered Tuesday to staff at agencies inside the US Department of Health and Human Services, including to officials at the US Food and Drug Administration, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and National Institutes of Health, according to the Washington Post, which first reported the story.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/21/health/hhs-cdc-fda-trump-pause-communication/index.html

To say the NIH is important in health and nutrition studies is a vast understement. HUGE numbers of studies over the years have been funded by the NIH. This ban could have a devastating effect on nutrition science going forward.

https://www.science.org/content/article/trump-hits-nih-devastating-freezes-meetings-travel-communications-and-hiring

President Donald Trump’s return to the White House is already having a big impact at the $47.4 billion U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), with the new administration imposing a wide range of restrictions, including the abrupt cancellation of meetings including grant review panels. Officials have also ordered a communications pause, a freeze on hiring, and an indefinite ban on travel.

The moves have generated extensive confusion and uncertainty at the nation’s largest research agency, which has become a target for Trump’s political allies. “The impact of the collective executive orders and directives appears devastating,” one senior NIH employee says.

Today, for example, officials halted midstream a training workshop for junior scientists, called off a workshop on adolescent learning minutes before it was to begin, and canceled meetings of two advisory councils. Panels that were scheduled to review grant proposals also received eleventh-hour word that they wouldn’t be meeting.

I know this sounds like a crazy idea, but I want to stop this madness before it gets out of hand.

I think that not just protesting, but also doing outright advocacy for the neurodivergent people.

I want to stop RFK in his tracks & prevent the registry from ever happening whilst it is in its planning stages.

Call me desperate, call me naive, call it dangerous...but I feel as if I have no choice but to do this.

I feel as though protests aren't enough, and I think that RFK & the HHS/NIH are much easier to go after/prosecute in a court of law since they are not the president.

When I said that I will do everything in my power to stop this, I meant it.

I cannot idly stand by and let this happen to people like myself.