NIH to terminate hundreds of active research grants

[mountaineer]

06 March 2025
Exclusive: NIH to terminate hundreds of active research grants
Studies that touch on LGBT+ health, gender identity and DEI in the biomedical workforce could be terminated, according to documents obtained by Nature.
    By Max Kozlov & Smriti Mallapaty
Nature

In an unprecedented move, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has begun a mass termination of research grants that fund active scientific projects because they no longer meet “agency priorities”.

NIH staff members have been instructed to identify and potentially cancel grants for projects studying transgender populations, gender identity, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the scientific workforce, environmental justice and any other research that might be perceived to discriminate on the basis of race or ethnicity, according to documents and an audio recording that Nature has obtained. Grants that allot funding to universities in China and those relating to climate change are also under scrutiny.

At least 16 termination letters have already been sent out, says Brittany Charlton, an epidemiologist at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts, who has been tracking them. And hundreds more are coming, say two NIH officials, who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the press.

“It’s extremely alarming that grants that have been vetted by the scientific community and deemed important and impactful to understand the world are now being cancelled because of political ideology,” says Lisa Fazio, a cognitive psychologist at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, who studies misinformation. “For all this talk about free speech, this is direct censorship of scientific research.” ...

Health?

[mountaineer]

Steve Milloy
@JunkScience
NIH has been funding researchers in China to do DEI and transgender research:

"NIH, the world’s largest sponsor of biomedical research, has terminated more than a dozen grants related to China and transgender research, according to social media posts by Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service, which is leading government efforts to sharply cut spending and the size of the federal workforce. Documents obtained by The Washington Post showed that last week, grants management staff were given guidance on how to terminate funding related to diversity, equity and inclusion. That guidance included “language provided to NIH by HHS providing examples for research activities that NIH no longer supports.” Those topics included funding to Chinese universities; for diversity, equity and inclusion; and for transgender issues. The language used in the notices created anguish within NIH, according to several people familiar with the notices."
Washington Post
9:00 AM · Mar 11, 2025

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Academia is already screaming

[GtHawk]

Academia is already screaming

[MeganC]

Academia is already screaming

That's a fine indicator that something good is happening.

[catfish1957]

That's a fine indicator that something good is happening.

While you besmirch the leader of making it happen?  At least don't pretend. 

[MeganC]

While you besmirch the leader of making it happen?  At least don't pretend.

Facts are stubborn things.

Also, just because there are ties between Musk and Russia doesn't preclude me from supporting what he is doing with DOGE.

I don't operate at that level of idiocy.

[The_Reader_David]

Not funding this sort of rubbish in the future is perfectly fine.   There is a problem with terminating an active grant (unless it is in the form of a continuing grant that is renewed annually, in which case terminating at the end of a funding year is perfectly fine):  grants are in the nature of a contract between the Federal government and the researcher(s).  Terminating an active grant is breach of contract on the part of the Federal government and the Feds will lose a suit against the action.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Not funding this sort of rubbish in the future is perfectly fine.   There is a problem with terminating an active grant (unless it is in the form of a continuing grant that is renewed annually, in which case terminating at the end of a funding year is perfectly fine):  grants are in the nature of a contract between the Federal government and the researcher(s).  Terminating an active grant is breach of contract on the part of the Federal government and the Feds will lose a suit against the action.

only if that is part of issuing the grant.

There exist grants which have contracts which permit added money if certain results take place, for instance, which can be terminated after partially completed.

It all depends on nature of grant. Doesn't it?

[Smokin Joe]

Sure puts a monkey wrench in the career plans of all those gender studies majors, and the schools who hand out those degrees.

[roamer_1]

Sure puts a monkey wrench in the career plans of all those gender studies majors, and the schools who hand out those degrees.

well... we're fixin to need some chicken sexers... 

[Smokin Joe]

well... we're fixin to need some chicken sexers... 

[verga]

From the article: “It’s extremely alarming that grants that have been vetted by the scientific community and deemed important and impactful to understand the world are now being cancelled because of political ideology,” This Is the biggest case of "You scratch my back and I will scratch yours" there is. This is Congress critters supporting each other's bills just to get campaign donations.