Special Guests:
On January 27th around 10:30 pm, NIH grant awardees were no longer able to access the government platform or receive funds. Please track below the massiveness and the size and scope of NIH funds. This conversation is from the perspective of two small business owners, NIH awardees: Lisa Marceua & Matt Golden.
We appreciate your willingness to come on the record and share your experience. Others awardees as well as NIH staff have communicated off the record that this happen without any communication, and all funding froze just like that.
General Background to NIH Funding
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) receives an annual budget of approximately $47 billion[1][6]. In fiscal year 2023, NIH funding generated an estimated $92.89 billion in economic activity, with every $1 of NIH funding generating approximately $2.46 of economic activity[6]. NIH Funding Allocation
NIH funds a wide range of biomedical and behavioral research:
In FY 2023, NIH awarded over 60,000 grants supporting more than 300,000 researchers at over 2,500 institutions[6].
Specific research areas receiving increased funding in FY 2024 include Alzheimer's disease, related dementias, and mental health[7].
The FY 2023 budget included $19.761 billion for R01-equivalent grants, which are the primary funding mechanism for investigator-initiated research[2].
Impact of this Policy
These actions have raised concerns in the scientific community:
A temporary freeze on travel, meetings, communications, and hiring at NIH has been implemented[9].
Key meetings for determining research project funding have been canceled[9].
Scientists worry that these disruptions could stall billions of dollars in NIH-funded projects at universities[9].
While some experts view this pause as typical during a new administration's transition, others see it as part of a larger pattern of undermining scientific findings, particularly given the president's past statements on COVID-19 and climate change[9].
The long-term impact of these policies remains uncertain, but there are concerns about potential loss of scientific capacity and disruption to ongoing research projects[9].
Citations:
[1] https://www.science.org/content/article/final-nih-budget-2024-essentially-flat
[2] https://nexus.od.nih.gov/all/2024/02/21/fy-2023-by-the-numbers-extramural-grant-investments-in-research/
[3] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5468112/
[4] https://www.science.org/content/article/senate-panel-approves-2-bump-nih-budget-2024
[5] https://nexus.od.nih.gov/all/2023/03/01/fy-2022-by-the-numbers-extramural-grant-investments-in-research/
[6] https://www.nih.gov/about-nih/what-we-do/impact-nih-research/serving-society/direct-economic-contributions
[7] https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/R43341.pdf
[8] https://report.nih.gov/funding/categorical-spending
[9] https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/science-research-policy/2025/01/24/scientists-worried-after-trump-halts-nih-grant
Trump's proposed budget cuts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) faced severe criticism from various sectors, including scientists, physicians, and politicians from both parties. The main criticisms were:
1. Devastating impact on research: The proposed 18% cut ($5.8 billion) to NIH's budget would severely limit the agency's ability to fund new research grants and ongoing projects[1][2]. This reduction could stall billions of dollars in NIH-funded projects at universities across the country.
2. Threat to public health: Critics argued that the cuts would lead to an increase in illness and deaths by reducing funding for programs that protect Americans from conditions such as diabetes, heart attacks, and strokes[1].
3. Undermining scientific innovation: The budget cuts were seen as hostile to scientific innovation, potentially discouraging students from pursuing or completing STEM degrees and driving researchers to seek opportunities overseas[2].
4. Disproportionate impact on vulnerable populations: The proposed cuts to Medicaid, in addition to NIH budget reductions, were criticized as cruel and potentially devastating to elderly, disabled, and low-income adults and their children[1].
5. Disruption of the research ecosystem: The cuts were seen as a threat to the entire biomedical research ecosystem in the United States, potentially compromising the country's position as a global leader in scientific research[2].
6. Counterproductive to recent trends: The proposed cuts contradicted recent bipartisan efforts to increase NIH funding, which had seen a $2 billion boost in 2015[2].
Many critics, including some Republicans, described the proposed cuts as "draconian," "immoral," and "stunning in cruelty," arguing that they would cause enormous pain to the most vulnerable Americans and should be rejected by Congress[1].
Citations:
[1] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5468112/
[2] https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/03/20/science-advocates-dismayed-size-cuts-proposed-nih-and-other-agencies
[3] https://www.npr.org/transcripts/nx-s1-5183014
[4] https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00231-y
[5] https://www.science.org/content/article/trump-s-new-budget-cuts-all-favored-few-science-programs
[6] https://www.propublica.org/article/nih-niaid-trump-kennedy-bhattacharya-vaccines-research
[7] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/11/us/politics/national-institutes-of-health-budget-trump.html
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