‘Unrecognizable and highly toxic': NIH staffers speak out ahead of Senate hearing on budget cuts
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The uncertainty over her future and the future of US scientific research led her and 341 other NIH workers to send a letter to NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya Monday morning urging him to stop politicizing research and to restore grants that were cut or delayed for ideological reasons.
'[W]e dissent to Administration policies that undermine the NIH mission, waste public resources, and harm the health of Americans and people across the globe,' said the letter, which was addressed to Bhattacharya, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, and members of Congress who oversee the NIH.
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The letter was timed to Bhattacharya's Tuesday morning testimony before the Senate Committee on Appropriations, which will take up the President's Fiscal Year 2026 budget request for the NIH. The request calls for a major restructuring of the agency, including a roughly 40 percent cut to the NIH budget.
'This restructuring will create efficiencies within NIH that will allow the agency to focus on true science and coordinate research to make the best use of federal funds,' according to a recently released summary of President Trump's
Since Jan. 20, the NIH has terminated more than $3.7 billion in grants across all US states and DC, according to
Some of the grants were cut because they allegedly violated Trump executive orders barring funding for research related to diversity, equity, and inclusion and
'My workplace has become unrecognizable and highly toxic,' said one NIH program officer who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation from the Trump administration.
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After months of telling herself that things would get better and to hunker down and mitigate harms from the inside, the NIH program officer said she's had enough.
'I feel like I've reached my personal limit for the duck and cover approach,' she said. 'I just don't think we're able to effectively uphold the science anymore.'
Multiple times a week, she and other program officers are asked by the grants office to review grants that have been flagged to make sure they're in compliance with Trump executive orders and new 'agency priorities,' she said.
'I get a list of grants and they ask, 'Should we terminate this? Is it DEI or related to a gender identity of vaccine hesitancy?' If I say 'No, it's not,' they come back, 'Well, why did it get flagged, then?' It seems like they're not even taking our scientific assessment at face value.'
Around a quarter of the two dozen active grants she shepherds have been flagged, terminated, or ordered to be revised, she said.
'I have grants that are meritorious but can't be funded because they had the word 'vaccine' in them, or it is from Northwestern or another university we can't give money to,' she said.
A job she once enjoyed has become soul crushing, she said.
'I can find another job, but I don't have another soul,' she said. 'If I don't speak up, I can't live with myself. I just can't.'
The NIH workers modeled their letter, which they call the 'Bethesda Declaration,' on Bhattacharya's "
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'Academic freedom is a core scientific principle, and we deeply appreciate your public commitment to it,' they wrote. The letter continued, 'We hope you will welcome this dissent.'
Ninety-two workers signed their names to the letter and the rest signed anonymously. The signatories speak for 'countless others at NIH who share our concerns but who—due to a culture of fear and suppression created by this Administration—chose not to sign their names for fear of retaliation,' according to the letter.
In parallel to the Bethesda Declaration, the group Stand Up for Science Monday morning circulated
Friedman said she and her colleagues are fearful of losing their jobs for speaking out but decided the risk was worthwhile.
'I'm terrified, but I really want to have a career in medical research, and I think if no one does anything, we won't have much medical research in this country,' she said. 'If I get a PhD and then there's nothing else for me to do with this knowledge that I've acquired, then what's the point?'
Anna Kuchment can be reached at
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