Scientific researchers around the country are concerned after the National Institutes of Health canceled meetings this week with very little explanation. The move comes after federal health officials were told to halt public communications until they could be reviewed by a Trump appointee.
The NIH is the largest public funder of biomedical research in the world — it invests more than $40 billion in research every year.
The agency gathers together scientists at academic institutions around the country into what are called "study sections" to help them figure out what research is the most important to fund.
Dr. Chrystal Starbird, a cancer structural biologist and professor at UNC Chapel Hill, said her study section was scheduled to meet next week. On Wednesday she received notice of its cancellation through email.
"It was pretty vague — it said that it's canceled, that they can't offer any further explanation at the time, and it thanked us for our service to the NIH," Starbird said.
She explains that these aren't the kinds of meetings that can easily be rescheduled. There are a lot of moving parts, involving different institutions all operating on different timetables. A delay — especially an indefinite delay, like this one — could have a negative impact on important cancer research, Starbird says.
It's possible this is just a temporary pause on meetings to allow the new Trump team to get their bearings, Starbird says. And indeed, the freeze on public communications for all of the Department of Health and Human Services — NIH is part of HHS — has an end date of Feb. 1, according to a memo obtained by NPR.
"I guess I can understand that potentially, but I don't understand the lack of communication," Starbird says. "I also don't think the people who just made that decision fully understand what that may mean in terms of implications for really important and critical research."
NIH did not respond to NPR's questions about the scope and reasons for the cancellations.
It's not clear if the move is related to the communications memo that was sent by the acting HHS Secretary Dr. Dorothy Fink on Tuesday. That memo instructs the leaders of NIH, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration and all the other health agencies to refrain from most external communications until they can be approved by "a presidential appointee."
NPR has also obtained an emailed memo that indicates travel is suspended for HHS staffers as well, and that job offers that have been extended are being rescinded.
HHS staffers who spoke to NPR are quite concerned about all of this and confused about whether information and papers that were set to be submitted will now be delayed. It's not clear whether infectious disease dashboards, tracking things like COVID-19 and flu, will be updated on schedule. The CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report did not publish at its usual time at 1 p.m. EST on Thursday.
Looming over these developments is the fact that, during Trump's first term, there were instances of political appointees attempting to alter CDC reports on COVID-19. Some worry these developments are a sign that political appointees intend to exert a new kind of control on the federal health and research agencies.
Below is the full text of an email that went out to employees of one institute in the NIH, obtained by NPR:
We understand that staff may have questions regarding the recent Executive Orders or HHS guidance related to the transition. In most cases, federal agencies have not yet received further guidance regarding the implementation beyond the issuance of these orders. We await instructions from OPM [Office of Personnel Management], HHS, and NIH/OHR [Office of Human Resources] and will share more information with all staff as soon as possible. In the meantime, here is some early guidance:
- Hiring Controls – As you likely already know, we are currently under a hiring freeze and have rescinded all job offers for those onboarding after 2/8. There are some exceptions, and we will provide more information about their status when we hear back from HHS/OHR.
- Travel Guidance - Institutes and Centers have been instructed that all travel is suspended immediately; The [Institute] Senior Travel Specialist will coordinate travel changes centrally and reach out to anyone impacted directly. Please submit a How2 request if you have specific questions.
- Communications - We have received guidance from HHS that there is a hold on external communications – this includes but is not limited to events, meetings with stakeholders, speaking engagements, social media posts, mass emails to external audiences (including grantees), and website postings.
- Return to Physical Workplace – We are waiting for guidance; no immediate changes to existing remote work or telework agreements are expected while we await additional instructions from NIH.
[Institute] senior leaders are coordinating closely to assess the impact and collect [Institute-] specific questions. We encourage you to reach out to your supervisor or Office/Division/Lab leadership with questions. Thank you for your continued dedication and hard work. We appreciate your patience while we wait for more information.
Marc Silver contributed to this report.
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