The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). It consists of twenty-seven organizations known as Institutes and Centers. The NIH aims to foster creative discoveries and innovative research strategies; develop, maintain, and renew scientific human and physical resources to prevent disease; expand the knowledge base in medical and related sciences to enhance the nation’s economic well-being; and exemplify and promote the highest levels of scientific integrity, public accountability, and social responsibility. Although each Institute and Center has its own research agenda, they all receive their funding directly from Congress.
The NIH allocates the majority of its $48 billion budget to medical research. A significant portion of this funding is awarded to universities, medical schools, and other institutions to conduct extramural research through grants. One major category supported by the NIH is cancer research, which receives approximately $8 billion annually. Since President Trump took office on January 20, 2025, he and his administration have implemented substantial cuts to federal health agencies. His administration, as of last week, has sent termination notices to thousands of federal health workers, including those at the NIH, which anticipates a loss of 1,200 employees.
In addition to cuts affecting federal employees at the NIH, the Trump administration has stalled grant authorization and funding. The NIH cannot consider new grant applications because President Trump has blocked it from posting new notices in the Federal Register, a requirement before any federal meeting can be convened. As a result, the agency had to cancel planned meetings to review thousands of grant applications. Due to the freeze, the NIH has reportedly stalled over 16,000 applications, all competing for approximately $1.5 billion in NIH grant funding. An anonymous committee member who reviews grant funding meetings states that even though the freeze remains in place, “applications still come in, and essentially they go into a black hole, and nothing can be done with them.” In addition to workforce cuts, the Trump Administration has hit the NIH with a cap of 15% on the rate they pay for the indirect cost of medical research. This is much lower than many other federal institutions get to maintain buildings and equipment.
Anjee Davis, the CEO of Fight Colorectal Cancer, expresses her fear regarding employee cuts and a funding freeze: “We are scared that these blanket mandates could erase decades of progress in the fight against cancer. This isn’t about politics. It’s about protecting the advancements we’ve fought so hard to achieve in cancer care and research over the past two decades.” Dr. Celine Gounder, CBS News Medical Contributor, explained that the NIH is “how we end up with new drugs and other advancements in medicine.” CBS further explains that while there are immediate impacts from the freeze and firings, concerns grow among individuals that there are both immediate and long-term worries about a slowdown in biomedical research and potential delays in drug approvals. Davis and her company surveyed patients currently being treated for colorectal cancer, and 75% of respondents indicated they were worried that these government actions would delay their care and hinder new research into their cancer.
While the funding freeze is new, and the federal workforce cuts at healthcare agencies are even newer, there is not much to say to ease the fear and anxiety felt by individuals, more specifically cancer patients. It is very concerning regarding the immediate impact on health care and public health and the longer-term implications for whether we will maintain our leadership in the health space.