The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is halting new grant and contract payments to several universities, a move the agency has been instructed not to disclose to affected schools, according to several reports.
Disbursements have been halted to Harvard University, Brown University, Northwestern University and Cornell University, plus Weill-Cornell Medical School, according to an April 16 NIH email viewed by Science.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) also told NIH to not communicate with the schools about “whether or why the funds are frozen,” according to an April 17 internal email from Office of Policy for Extramural Research Administration director Michelle Bulls, which was posted on X by Nature reporter Max Kozlov.
The universities were all recipients of a March 10 letter from President Donald Trump’s administration that warned 60 colleges of “potential enforcement actions” if the universities didn’t “fulfill their obligations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to protect Jewish students on campus.” Other recently targeted schools on the list include Princeton University and Columbia University.
The newest efforts to cut off research funding come amid a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative called “Defend the Spend” that is freezing billions of dollars in healthcare grants, according to The Washington Post. The program is part of a broader push from President Donald Trump’s administration to slash spending.
As of publication, the HHS and the White House had not responded to Fierce Biotech’s request for comment.
Federal funding battle with Harvard escalates
Meanwhile, the Trump administration is doubling down on its efforts to cut off federal funds to Harvard, even after a report found that the initial April 11 demands to the university were allegedly sent in error.
The administration plans to halt another $1 billion to the Ivy League school, according to an April 20 report from The Wall Street Journal. The proposed cut would be in addition to $2.2 billion in already canceled grants that came after Harvard publicly defied orders from the administration to make radical changes. Such demands from the government included reporting international students who are “supportive of terrorism” to authorities, and bringing in an external group to audit multiple university programs accused of antisemitism.
However, the letter of demands sent to Harvard was “unauthorized” and should not have been sent in the first place, two people familiar with the matter told The New York Times. Despite this, the administration is reportedly “irate” that Harvard made the letter public, which prompted the proposed further funding cuts, according to WSJ.
The lost funds risk halting medical research on cancer, heart disease, obesity, neurodegenerative diseases, infectious diseases and more, according to a Harvard webpage.
Harvard, the HHS and the White House had not responded to Fierce’s request for comment as of publication.
NIH grant reviews begin again amid agency cuts
Despite widespread NIH culls, the agency appears to have restarted convening panels for certain research grant reviews, according to an April 11 report from Stat News. The requirements for grants have been updated to reflect the Trump administration’s priority of dismantling diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in the federal government.
According to a government webpage last updated March 31, “some funding opportunities have been closed and others have been updated to align with agency priorities.” These updates include the removal of requirements around DEI, including Plans for Enhancing Diverse Perspectives, diversity plans for conference grants and recruitment plans to enhance diversity in training grant applications.
The HHS has not yet responded to Fierce’s questions about further specifics related to the “closed” opportunities.
Late last week, a leaked Office of Management and Budget (OMB) plan proposed 40% budget cuts for the NIH, which would bring the agency’s funds from $47 billion to $27 billion, according to a report from The Washington Post.
The preliminary budget document, labeled “Not For Distribution, 04/10/2025,” was not authenticated by HHS.