Earlier this month, a Trump administration plan to cut the National Institutes of Health budget by more than 40% was leaked to the press.
The preliminary budget sent shockwaves through the nation’s health agency but also, the wider scientific community that relies on the NIH to fund research.
Since January, 1,300 NIH employees have been fired and more than $2 billion in research grants cancelled.
It’s all part of the administration’s effort to shrink the federal government, an effort led by the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
Tonight, you will hear from an NIH insider about the immediate impact of the cuts on research and patients.
But we begin with Dr. Francis Collins, the longtime director of the agency. He told us why he abruptly left the NIH and why he fears aggressive downsizing could impact the health of Americans for generations.
Dr. Francis Collins: When you’re talking about medical research, when you’re talking about people’s lives, when you’re talking about clinical trials for Alzheimer’s disease or cancer that may take 3 or 4 years, you can’t just go in and decide, ‘I’m going to shut those down and maybe I’ll try something else.’ Those are people’s lives at risk.
Dr. Francis Collins spent 32 years at the National Institutes of Health, serving as the agency’s director for 12 years under three presidential administrations.
But he says even he was unprepared for the speed and severity of budget cuts at the NIH.
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Sharyn Alfonsi: Give me a sense of what it was like inside the NIH, as these cuts started rolling out.
Dr. Francis Collins: Almost immediately, after Inauguration. There were statements made that you were not allowed, for instance, to start any new projects. The ability to order supplies– was cut off. Eventually, it was started back up again. But then, they put a $1 limit on what you could order. There’s not much you can order for $1.
Collins joined the NIH in 1993 to lead the Human Genome Project and, later, directed the agency’s development of new tests, therapeutics and vaccines during the pandemic.
Still, he says, even after COVID, most people don’t know what the NIH does.
Dr. Francis Collins: The National Institutes of Health, NIH, is the largest supporter of biomedical research in the world.
Sharyn Alfonsi: What are some of the medical breakthroughs that people might not be aware of that came through the NIH?
Dr. Francis Collins: Deaths from heart disease are down by 75% in the last 40 years. That’s NIH. Deaths from stroke are down about 75%. That’s NIH. HIV, AIDS. Where that was a death sentence, now if you have access to those antiretrovirals, NIH and drug companies came up with that, you have a normal lifespan.
The NIH is headquartered on this sprawling 300-acre campus in Bethesda, Maryland. It’s home to the largest clinical research hospital in the world, and 27 research institutes and centers.
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Scientists fear Trump administration cuts to NIH could impact the health of Americans for generations
