Use dropdown or start typing to search institution<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n <\/main><\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n Scale is larger than in previous graphic.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/figure>\n <\/p>\n \u201cI think people should know that research that they probably would support is being canceled,\u201d said Eden Tanner, a chemist at the University of Mississippi, who had been working with a colleague at Ohio State University to develop a novel approach for treating glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer. Their grant had been awarded through a program designed to diversify the biomedical workforce; in April, they were notified that it was being terminated.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cI would like to cure brain cancer,\u201d Dr. Tanner said. \u201cI think that’s not particularly controversial.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mr. Trump\u2019s campaign against medical research has been carried out without congressional approval, and the legality<\/a> is unclear. Lawsuits have challenged<\/a> the slashing or delaying of funding.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Federal officials, who have accused the N.I.H. of wasteful spending, have attributed the cuts to changing scientific priorities.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The N.I.H. \u201cregularly examines its research portfolio\u201d to determine which projects are \u201cthe most meritorious,\u201d Andrew Nixon, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said in an email. \u201cRegular reviews of ongoing activities will help us determine the most strategic balance of projects to support and the best way to manage them going forward, especially as we need to be responsive to the often-changing nature of biomedical scientific progress.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Scientists fear that the sweeping cuts could do long-term damage to U.S. scientific research, which has long driven medical and financial progress for the nation. \u201cThe country is going to be mourning the loss of this enterprise for decades,\u201d said Dr. Harold Varmus, a Nobel Prize-winning cancer biologist who served as the director of the N.I.H. during the Clinton administration and the director of the National Cancer Institute under President Barack Obama.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The federal government has announced the termination of 1,389 awards, with more than $820 million in recent funding.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/figure>\n <\/p>\n N.I.H. grants, awarded in a competitive process, are typically paid out in installments. A researcher with a $1 million four-year grant, for instance, will get about $250,000 a year. Scientists can use this money to buy equipment and supplies and to pay the salaries of the researchers who work in their labs, among other things.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n From 2015 to 2024, there have been fewer than 20 terminations a year, on average, according to Jeremy M. Berg, former director of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences at the N.I.H. from 2003 to 2011. They were generally for extenuating circumstances, such as illness or research misconduct.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n But since late February, the government has publicly announced the cancellation of 1,389 N.I.H. awards. The agency scoured grants for key words and phrases like \u201ctransgender,\u201d \u201cmisinformation,\u201d \u201cvaccine hesitancy\u201d and \u201cequity,\u201d ending those focused on certain topics or populations, according to a current N.I.H. program officer, who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Studies focused on sexual and gender minority groups were among the first on the chopping block.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Katherine Bogen, a doctoral student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, had been studying post-traumatic stress, alcohol use and intimate partner violence against bisexual women. The termination notice she received assailed studies \u201cbased primarily on artificial and nonscientific categories,\u201d calling such research \u201cantithetical to the scientific inquiry\u201d and alleging that it was \u201coften used to support unlawful discrimination on the basis of race and other protected characteristics, which harms the health of Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The language was \u201cvery insulting,\u201d she said. \u201cI get this letter that tells me, \u2018Your research is not science. Not only is it ascientific, it\u2019s a useless drain on resources, and, in fact, your research could be used to discriminate against \u2018actual\u2019 Americans or \u2018regular\u2019 Americans,\u2019 or whatever they mean.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The cuts spread to grants on health equity and racial and ethnic groups. Affected projects sought to improve access to mental health care for Latino, low-income and rural communities; to reduce maternal mortality among Black women; and to prevent gun violence in Asian American communities.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tsu-Yin Wu, a researcher at Eastern Michigan University who led the gun violence project, said that community leaders and study participants were \u201cgreatly disappointed\u201d by the grant cancellation. \u201cSome felt betrayed that their voices and engagement no longer matter.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The agency cut grants for research on vaccine hesitancy, disinformation and misinformation<\/a>, including a Northeastern University study on cancer misinformation on social media.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It also axed research on Covid-19, including studies that could have helped the nation respond to many infectious disease threats. Among them: a grant to Emory University and Georgia State University, where researchers had developed three potential drugs that showed promise against many RNA-based viruses, including coronaviruses, Ebola, avian influenza and measles, said George Painter, a pharmacologist at Emory who was co-leading the research.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In April, the agency terminated, in part or in whole, more than 350 grants meant to support students, early-career scientists or researchers from groups underrepresented in science. Among these terminations were F31 diversity grants, awarded to Ph.D. students who were members of certain racial or ethnic groups, disabled or from disadvantaged backgrounds.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n At the University of Pittsburgh, Luzmariel Medina-Sanchez, who was born and raised in Puerto Rico, and Sierra Wilson, a first-generation college student from Utah, both had their grants canceled. \u201cIt\u2019s not even about the work I\u2019m doing,\u201d said Ms. Wilson, who studies how liver cells respond to drug overdoses. \u201cIt feels like it\u2019s about me.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ms. Medina-Sanchez, who studies how a microbe can help treat celiac disease, said she may leave science altogether. \u201cI feel racially targeted,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel like I\u2019m not going to be a professional in the field of science in America, because obviously my name is Luzmariel.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n (Ms. Wilson and Ms. Medina-Sanchez stressed that they spoke only for themselves and not for the university.)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n In addition to publicly announced cancellations<\/strong>, these are the nearly 1,100 grants that have been delayed<\/strong>, with nearly $740 million in funding.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n Awards under $100,000 are not shown.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/figure>\n <\/p>\n Besides outright canceling projects, N.I.H. failed to distribute annual payments to more than 1,000 grants, The Times found.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The delays have stifled research on drug discovery, blood vessel health and injury response. In some cases, scientists have cut staff, paused hiring, trimmed back supplies or delayed experiments. Health officials have not explained which projects have been held up, why or for how long.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Times compiled a list of the delayed grants by searching N.I.H. databases as of June 2 for ones that were funded in 2024 and expected to last beyond 2025, but have not gotten disbursements on schedule.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In the past, annual renewals were routine. Scientists submitted progress reports; the N.I.H. reviewed them and usually continued funding them, occasionally with a week or two of delays. But longer delays have become much more common since Mr. Trump took office.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Joshua Kritzer, a professor of chemistry at Tufts University, investigates the basic science behind potential drug candidates, laying the groundwork for future medications. Most of his lab work is supported by a five-year N.I.H. grant that received $1.4 million over the past two years. But since February, he had been waiting for the third year of expected funding to come in. He slashed purchases of essential supplies and contemplated laying off crucial researchers on his team.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n On Tuesday, Kritzer finally received word that his funding had been released, several days after The Times asked federal officials about his and other delayed awards.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cEvery week that\u2019s delayed, it\u2019s easily probably three to four weeks to get that research back to where it was,\u201d said Dr. Kritzer, who noted that he was speaking for himself and not for his institution.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mr. Nixon, the Department of Health spokesman, said that the agency would not discuss deliberations about specific awards but encouraged grant recipients to \u201cspeak with the designated N.I.H. officials on their award notice when questions arise.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In some cases, delays have lasted so long that scientists wondered whether their grants were subject to a \u201cshadow termination.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The delays stem in part from additional screening for whether the grants align with Trump administration priorities, N.I.H. officials said. Other renewals have been delayed as overstretched N.I.H. staff members work through backlogs in funding. And political appointees are now vetting some projects, too, slowing the process further.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n N.I.H. officials said they feared being fired if they processed a grant renewal that the administration disfavored.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In early May, Jon Lorsch, a longtime N.I.H. institute director who was recently promoted to acting deputy director of the agency\u2019s external funding arm, emailed staff members denouncing the renewal of grants \u201cthat focused on topics that are not supported under N.I.H.\/H.H.S.’s priorities,\u201d according to a copy of the email seen by The Times.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThe consequences of approving an award that should not have been approved could be very serious,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n But Courtney Griffin, who leads a lab at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation and studies blood vessel development and disease, including complications due to diabetes, expressed confusion as to why her expected funding is not coming through. She and her colleagues were making contingency plans and looking for other sources of funding.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s, ironically, a really inefficient use of people\u2019s time to be in this guessing game,\u201d she said, adding that the time could be better spent on biomedical research.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Months-long delays are also affecting new grants that were being vetted when the Trump administration cracked down on grant reviews.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A number of major Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers, some of which have operated for decades, have waited months for the Trump administration to decide whether to award them fresh five-year grants. The funding gaps have set back ongoing studies and curtailed efforts to take images of patients’ brains, though the N.I.H. has recently told some centers that they would soon receive funding.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThese centers have become a safety valve for people who can\u2019t get a neurology appointment at a private center,\u201d said Dr. Ann Cohen, a co-director of the University of Pittsburgh Alzheimer\u2019s center. Now, she said, things have changed. \u201cThere are fewer clinic appointments, fewer opportunities for these individuals to get brain imaging.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The N.I.H. has also said that it will no longer fund<\/a> projects in which U.S. researchers distribute some of their money to international partners, throwing the future of many global health projects into question<\/a> and creating funding delays for ongoing research.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Beyond the disruption of individual projects, other proposed changes could undermine scientific research across the board, experts said. One would sharply curb funding for indirect research costs<\/a>, such as building maintenance and administrative staff. And then there is Mr. Trump\u2019s proposal to slash the N.I.H.\u2019s total budget<\/a> by about $18 billion, a cut of almost 40 percent.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A budget cut of that scale would be \u201ctruly draconian,\u201d said Dr. Varmus, the former N.I.H. director, who said he hoped Congress would not approve such a sharp reduction. It could leave the agency without enough money to fund promising new work, drive some scientists overseas and prompt some up-and-coming researchers to leave science altogether, he said. \u201cYou can completely destroy the system in just a couple of years,\u201d Dr. Varmus said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Methodology<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Times\u2019s analysis of cancellations is based on the list<\/a> of terminated grant awards published by the Department of Health and Human Services as of May 30, 2025, and on records from RePORT<\/a>, the National Institutes of Health\u2019s registry of grants and projects, as of June 2, 2025.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Each circle in the graphics represents a grant award. The circles are sized by the total funding that N.I.H. authorized for each award. H.H.S.\u2019s list of terminations includes a mix of main grant awards, supplements and amendments. The list also indicates a \u201ctotal amount obligated,\u201d but that figure generally is the total amount awarded to a grant over its lifetime, including any supplements and amendments, rather than the amount for the specific award terminated. The Times\u2019s analysis above uses only the amount authorized for the specific award listed. In some cases, scientists had already spent much of the money they had been awarded before their grants were cancelled, but in others, they lost out on their entire awards. Award amounts and totals \u2014 including the year-to-year funding shortfall calculated by The Times \u2014 do not include N.I.H. grants administered by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, because their funding amounts are not available in RePORT.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Times examined cancellations of grants intended to train and support research by groups underrepresented in science. These include the R25 education program; the T32 and T34 training programs; F31 diversity grants; R01 research grants under funding opportunity number PAR-22-241 and research supplements under funding opportunity number PA-23-189, both of which are specifically intended to promote diversity among grant recipients.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n To identify grants with delayed funding, Times journalists used information about each grant\u2019s planned duration and prior awards, focusing on those that were eligible for continuation or noncompeting renewal. To account for reporting lags in the RePORTER database, The Times limited this analysis to a time period from Jan. 20 to April 30. The Times excluded grants that appear on H.H.S.\u2019s public list of terminations and grants that have been marked in RePORTER as terminated. Based on interviews and an analysis of historical renewal data, The Times found such grants typically receive a notice of award at roughly the same time each year. Each circle representing a delayed grant is sized by the amount its main award received in fiscal year 2024. This list may include a small number of grants whose renewals are not yet recorded in N.I.H. databases, and others whose renewals are expected to be delayed, because of conversion of grant status for an investigator changing roles or institutions.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n To classify each grant\u2019s area of research, The Times extracted the title, the public health relevance statement and the abstract from the N.I.H.\u2019s RePORTER database and ExPORTER files. These fields were used as input for a series of automated prompts to a large language model.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The model generated a brief description of the grant\u2019s research objective. The model also determined if grants were related to research in areas like chronic diseases, vaccines, pandemic preparedness, misinformation, sexual and gender identity, health disparities and certain ethnic and racial groups, and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and then assigned categories.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Times journalists read the projects\u2019 public health relevance statements and abstracts, and they checked the assigned categories for accuracy. They also checked hundreds of grant descriptions and edited them for accuracy and clarity. Only the project descriptions that have been edited by Times journalists are displayed in the article.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/figure>\n <\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Awards under $100,000 are not shown. Amounts shown are for the most recent fiscal year. In his first months in office, President Trump has slashed funding for medical research, threatening a longstanding alliance between the federal government and universities that helped make the United States the world leader in medical science. Some changes have been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3475,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[327],"tags":[943,944,942,533,941,520],"class_list":{"0":"post-3474","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-canceled","9":"tag-delayed","10":"tag-grants","11":"tag-medical","12":"tag-research","13":"tag-trump"},"yoast_head":"\nPublicly announced cancellations<\/h3>\n
Delayed funding<\/h3>\n