A June 2026 Nature report revealed that mandatory reviews by top officials, checking for a list of 235 disfavored terms, have left hundreds of meritorious NIH applications in administrative limbo (Kozlov, 2026a).
I've often felt great sympathy for NIH scientists and program officials who stay at NIH and try to get good work done under difficult circumstances. I can understand how, when you are raising a family and establishing a career, it's difficult to just walk away on principle. But I have no sympathy for those NIH officials who will stand up and tell lies on the record. Who, even if they are technically telling the truth, are hiding the whole truth and supporting an overall false narrative. Those folks have gone over to the dark side.
I agree. It's why I felt I had to leave the NIH last year. I couldn't stand watching the leadership pretend this is normal instead of standing up for what is right. The current leadership is complicit in the dismantling of the agency.
Thank you for all your analysis and information! Perhaps for another post, but do you have any thoughts on the proposed change to K awards that will prohibit clinical trials?
I think not allowing clinical trials with K awards is a horrible decision that will harm the future clinical research pipeline. Others have written about it and I will share those articles here.
Program Officials who are not given scores will have a tremendous task figuring out who should and who should not be funded. In my IC Division, 900 grants fell into the 1 to 25 %ile range in 2024. Since we fund about 430 grants that means sifting through almost a thousand grants to determine the yes and no pile. We don't have enough POs to do that and they are already greatly burdened by the additional work given to them because of all the staff who have left and not replaced. Morale has been low but now it will be in the gutter.
Sorry to hear that. I am a consultant in the medical device field working with a client on some novel technology in the cardiovascular and stroke areas, as well as embolization technologies, all of which are guided by small external magnets. The Company is pre-revenue and had relied on SBIR grants to suppliment the capital funding, and honestly, de-risk the technologies with non-dilutive funding. Since April of 2025, 2 grants, one of which had received requests for 'Just in time" information have been held in limbo. And of a total of 7 different grant applications over that time frame, none have been funded. The company regularly speaks with Program Officers and others at the Institute levels and they're good people, caught up in this horrific administrations b.s. I feel for them all and for the ability of my client to survive this. NIH funding used to be a check mark for investors...no longer the case.
I've often felt great sympathy for NIH scientists and program officials who stay at NIH and try to get good work done under difficult circumstances. I can understand how, when you are raising a family and establishing a career, it's difficult to just walk away on principle. But I have no sympathy for those NIH officials who will stand up and tell lies on the record. Who, even if they are technically telling the truth, are hiding the whole truth and supporting an overall false narrative. Those folks have gone over to the dark side.
I agree. It's why I felt I had to leave the NIH last year. I couldn't stand watching the leadership pretend this is normal instead of standing up for what is right. The current leadership is complicit in the dismantling of the agency.
Thank you for all your analysis and information! Perhaps for another post, but do you have any thoughts on the proposed change to K awards that will prohibit clinical trials?
I think not allowing clinical trials with K awards is a horrible decision that will harm the future clinical research pipeline. Others have written about it and I will share those articles here.
Thank you! (From this very stressed T32 Training Director). 💜
These are stressful times for everyone involved in science. I left NIH last year and may never find another job again.
Program Officials who are not given scores will have a tremendous task figuring out who should and who should not be funded. In my IC Division, 900 grants fell into the 1 to 25 %ile range in 2024. Since we fund about 430 grants that means sifting through almost a thousand grants to determine the yes and no pile. We don't have enough POs to do that and they are already greatly burdened by the additional work given to them because of all the staff who have left and not replaced. Morale has been low but now it will be in the gutter.
TY both for making sure this info is shared. Oh boy, gotta watch out for these August weekends!
Sorry to hear that. I am a consultant in the medical device field working with a client on some novel technology in the cardiovascular and stroke areas, as well as embolization technologies, all of which are guided by small external magnets. The Company is pre-revenue and had relied on SBIR grants to suppliment the capital funding, and honestly, de-risk the technologies with non-dilutive funding. Since April of 2025, 2 grants, one of which had received requests for 'Just in time" information have been held in limbo. And of a total of 7 different grant applications over that time frame, none have been funded. The company regularly speaks with Program Officers and others at the Institute levels and they're good people, caught up in this horrific administrations b.s. I feel for them all and for the ability of my client to survive this. NIH funding used to be a check mark for investors...no longer the case.
This breaks my heart.
The hidden filter is Orwellian.
Thank you for sharing!