President Donald Trump is attempting to seize further control of funding decisions made by the National Institutes of Health. According to multiple reports, senior officials met in the Oval Office on Friday to discuss plans for an executive order that would create an external panel with the power to shoot down NIH grants.
Details of the meeting were first reported by The Washington Post. According to the Post, it was Russell Vought, director of the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, who led criticism of the NIH at the meeting, claiming the biomedical research agency is still funding “woke” projects despite multiple efforts to eliminate grants that don’t align with agency priorities.
In addition to screening grants for signs of language related to diversity, equity and inclusion, the NIH under Trump has banned researchers from certain countries from accessing databases and reinstated a ban on the research use of human fetal tissue obtained from abortions, among other significant changes.
Volatilities in NIH funding during the second Trump administration have disrupted hundreds of clinical trials, disproportionately impacted women and early-career researchers and may stall progress toward potential new medicines.
At the Friday meeting, the officials discussed plans for an executive order that would create a new political commission to review NIH grants and reject those that don’t conform to the administration’s agenda, the Post and others reported. If implemented, such a shift would be a major departure from the scientific review that has long been standard at the NIH. NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, M.D., Ph.D., stepped in to defend the agency’s process, according to reports.
At the time of publication, the NIH and White House had not responded to requests for comment from Fierce.
Harvard University arose as a special sore spot during the meeting, The New York Times reported, with Trump complaining about his administration’s inability to take more control of the Ivy League stalwart. The Trump administration’s attempts to cut off funding to Harvard have been blocked after multiple lawsuits.
During the Friday meeting, Trump asked Bhattacharya to cut Harvard’s funding, but the NIH leader refused, Politico reported.
At press time, Harvard had not responded to Fierce’s request for comment.