Confusion over the funding status for new research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has persisted, despite the rescinding of a broad freeze in federal spending by the Trump administration last week.
The unexpected freeze left some on the Doane Campus concerned about how vital health services might be affected.
“I had a pause when I learned of these changes because the NIH, the CDC, and other health care organizations give guidance, statistics, and knowledge about a myriad of health-related issues,” Andreea Baker, director of Health and Wellness, said. “They are resources for those of us working in healthcare to help care for, manage, and monitor diseases and illnesses that could directly impact the populations we care for.”
Baker also highlighted that Doane’s health services were unaffected.
“We have not changed any of our practices related to how we care for students and we will continue to care for the students of Doane to the best of our ability,” Baker said.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the world’s largest public funder of biomedical research, and its operations were halted on Jan. 21. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) employees were told to stop all public communications, meetings, notices, publications and documentation until such activity can be approved by a presidential appointee according to NPR. Along with the NIH, this communications freeze impacts the other 12 operating divisions at HHS.
Blake Hendrickson, Epidemiologist and adjunct faculty at Doane shared his thoughts on the matter.
“I believe that communication and sharing health information is critical for the public’s well-being, “ Hendrickson said. “To stop sharing valuable information just so the work can be reviewed and judged as being worthy or not, is very self-serving and reckless.”
Concerns about the freeze affecting ongoing research arose, and many reacted quickly. The NIH invests nearly $48 billion in health research every year, primarily used for the almost 50,000 competitive grants the institution backs each year. Applicants, recipients and current researchers on these grants have protested the communications pause.
On Jan. 27, further clarification was released in light of the extreme confusion and backlash. An NIH representative stated that the organization’s essential functions could continue.
“Research laboratories at the NIH can procure necessary supplies and support for ongoing research experiments that began prior to January 20, 2025,” the representative wrote. No new studies are being launched and the fate of extramural research, studies the NIH pays researchers in academia and other institutions to conduct, is uncertain.
One of these extramural researchers is Dr. Kenneth Olive, a professor at Columbia University and a pancreatic cancer researcher. He took to Facebook on Jan. 21 to share his experience. On that day, Dr. Olive was supposed to be at a federally supported consortium to “present our latest findings on how to coax the healthy parts of a patient’s body to attack a pancreatic tumor.” Dr. Olive has also submitted a major grant to the NIH to continue this research. “As of this moment, this meeting,” wrote Dr. Olive. “for which 55 hotel rooms, flights, and a conference venue have already been non-refundable booked, may have to be canceled.” Dr. Olive went on to implore readers to contact their senators and representatives about this issue, writing, “Cancer doesn’t care if you are a Republican or a Democrat. This is not a partisan issue.”
While there has been conversation about funds being cut to cancer research, the NIH has not had any funds cut. The 118th Congress did scrap three cancer-related measures, including a policy that would have made it easier for low-income children on Medicaid to travel for specialized treatment. The other two bills focused on incentivizing pediatric cancer drug development.
Additional concern and confusion were caused on Jan. 27, when a memo freezing federal loans and grants was issued. U.S. District Judge Loren L. Alikhan blocked the funding freeze minutes before it was scheduled to take effect on Jan. 28. “It seems like the federal government currently doesn’t actually know the full extent of the programs that are going to be subject to the pause,” AliKhan said. The Trump Administration rescinded the memo two days later but not before panic spread among the states, schools and organizations that rely on trillions of dollars from Washington.
“I anticipate more of these kinds of policies that, in the big picture, are about gathering power and money at the expense of many people’s well-being,” Hendrickson said.
On average federal grants take six to nine months to get approved. This communications freeze has further lengthened that process for many applicants. The full impact of this decision has yet to be seen.
