A set of committees that assist decide how billions of federal health dollars are spent, including hundreds of millions of dollars annually to Oregon universities, biotech firms, and NGOs that deal with diseases, were canceled by the Trump administration last week.
Federal medical grants, which have financed scientific and medical advances like the Human Genome Project, which maps human genes and links them to diseases for potential cures, and the creation of a new vaccine technology that was utilized in COVID vaccines and saved countless lives during the pandemic, are determined in large part by the National Institutes of Health meetings.
At the sessions, specialists from many areas of medical research get together to determine which subjects and initiatives are most worthy of receiving these grants.
Local researchers, physicians, and patients are concerned about their cancellation, which was originally reported by STAT News. They fear that the Trump administration’s expenditure cuts will halt or possibly eliminate critical funding for research on diseases like dementia, cancer, and other ailments. Approximately $40 billion in grants are awarded by NIH annually, and more than 5,000 employment in Oregon are now supported by more than $500 million in funded programs.
One of the canceled sessions included Dr. Esther Choo, an Emergency Medicine professor at Oregon Health & Science University, on the review panel. A review of projects tackling the opioid issue was the focus of Choo’s meeting last Thursday. The cancellations, according to her, are unprecedented in her career.
Choo remarked, “I’ve never seen it stop for any length of time.” As of yet, I haven’t come across a researcher who recalls pausing study parts and reviews.
She adds that this type of cancelation was not brought on by even significant global events like the terrorist attacks, the early stages of the epidemic, or the events of September 11, 2001.
Choo points out that because the meetings bring together 25 to 30 specialists from across the nation in one room or online, they are almost impossible to reschedule. One day is set aside for them all to gather, and they are booked months in advance.
With over 1,200 sessions planned annually, the sessions run nearly continuously for various research specialties and topics. A number of missed sessions that might never be made up could result from each day that the gap lasts.
In Oregon, OHSU is by far the largest beneficiary. Over $277 million, or more than 70% of all new NIH funding in Oregon, went to OHSU last year. That represents about half of the university’s overall research budget and roughly four times what the state Legislature grants it annually. That funding is spread among nearly 500 programs, ranging from research on AIDS and cancer to studies on dementia causes and suicide prevention.
Sara Hottman, a spokesman for OHSU, refrained from discussing the possible effects of any NIH funding change.
“Any federal actions that immediately affect the research mission will be communicated to OHSU researchers in the upcoming weeks and months,” Hottman said in a statement.
NIH provides substantial money to all of Oregon’s major universities, including the University of Oregon, which received $40 million last year, and Oregon State University, which received $21 million. A request for response from OSU’s College of Health was not answered, and other OSU researchers did not reply.
Funds were allocated to small biotech businesses and foundations that focus on certain diseases in addition to university research. The HER Foundation, located in Clackamas, received a $10,000 grant last year to assist patients with Hyperemesis Gravidarum, a pregnancy disorder that causes severe nausea and other health problems.
The HER Foundation’s executive director, Kimber MacGibbon, told the Capital Chronicle that the grant last year enabled them to host a research symposium on the understudied illness.
Multiple requests for comment were not answered by two other NIH-funded organizations: Portland-based Boulder Care, which provides telehealth access to addiction treatment, and the Hillsboro-based Children’s Cancer Therapy Development Institute, which aims to place novel cancer medications into clinical trials.
Researchers’ worries about a wider disruption in government health funding are heightened by the meeting cancellations. Every Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention publishes the Mortality and Morbidity Report, which provides doctors and other health care authorities with news and advice on pressing concerns such as research and disease outbreaks. It didn’t print on Thursday for the first time in almost 60 years.
On January 17, Monica Bertagnolli resigned as NIH Director. Jay Bhattacharya, President Trump’s pick, is pending Senate approval. Trump has appointed Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, the parent organization of NIH that also manages the CDC. This week is when Kennedy’s confirmation hearings are planned.
The conference cancellations are causing more than just professional concerns for reviewers and researchers. Their responses may also be highly subjective.
They’re more than just scientists. According to Choo, they either work as clinicians or have relatives who suffer the illness. The implications of this for science and our societies are simply sobering.
— Ian Rose
The largest state-focused nonprofit news agency in the country, States Newsroom, includes Oregon Capital Chronicle.
