Trump administration freezes NIH funding, repeals diversity programs, sparks outrage

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Confusion and anxiety have gripped the U.S. scientific community as the Trump administration freezes operations at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), halting grant reviews, travel and training. Researchers are particularly alarmed by the removal of diversity programs, including initiatives such as UNITE, from the NIH website. “I've never seen anything like this,” said developmental biologist Carole LaBonne, who warned that the freeze would devastate decisions by early-career researchers who depend on funding. The elimination of a grant review panel critical to allocating $47 billion in funding has ripple effects across the biomedical field. An NIH spokesperson claimed that the pause allows the administration to realign its priorities. However, former NIH Director Harold Varmus argued that the extent of these measures contradicted the agency's mission and Congress's intent to fund important research. The CDC failed to publish summaries of its disease research for the first time in 60 years, delaying the critical H5N1 outbreak, adding to confusion The Trump administration also removed NIH's plan to address structural racism and diversity Problem resources. The move follows an executive order targeting diversity programs at federal agencies, a move that critics such as Rabone decried as erasing years of meager progress on inclusion. “There are real people, real lives, waiting for science to come,” Esther Choo, a physician and funder, told the reviewer. Researchers face layoffs, career threats and setbacks in groundbreaking health research as funding stalls. Like this: Like Loading… Learn more by subscribing with Baller Alert and get the latest posts delivered to your email.

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