U.S. Health Official Confirms Rollback on Trump-Era Biomedical Research Cuts

A senior U.S health official has acknowledged that the Trump administration’s deep cuts to biomedical research funding went too far, announcing efforts to restore some of the billions of dollars in slashed grants.

The director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Jay Bhattacharya, testified before a Senate committee reviewing recent funding reductions and the White House’s proposed further cuts in next year’s budget.

Bhattacharya revealed that an appeals process has been established for researchers and laboratories affected by the cuts, and that the NIH has already reinstated numerous grants.

“I didn’t take this job to terminate grants,” said Bhattacharya, a physician and health economist who left his Stanford University professorship to join the Trump administration. “I took this job to make sure we do research that advances the health needs of the American people.”

The hearing followed an open letter from more than 60 NIH employees condemning the administration’s policies as damaging to the agency’s mission and public health.

The letter, dubbed the “Bethesda Declaration” — referencing the NIH’s headquarters — also highlighted Bhattacharya’s controversial role as a signatory of the 2020 Great Barrington Declaration, which opposed Covid lockdowns.

Since President Trump’s inauguration, the NIH has terminated approximately 2,100 research grants worth around $9.5 billion, along with $2.6 billion in contracts, according to data from Grant Watch, an independent tracking database.

The cuts have affected critical research areas including gender studies, the health impacts of climate change, Alzheimer’s disease, and cancer.

These actions are part of a broader overhaul of the US scientific establishment under Trump’s second term, which has seen sweeping budget reductions, confrontations with universities, and significant layoffs of federal scientists.