The gutting of the NIH and the capitalist assault on public health
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded fewer new grants during the Trump administration, with a significant drop in funding for research on Alzheimer's disease, mental health, and cancer. The NIH has lost nearly 3,000 employees and faces severe operational funding bottlenecks due to the administration's policies.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has seen a significant decline in new grant awards during the Trump administration. Between October and late March, the NIH awarded only about 1,900 new and competitive grants, less than half the typical number. A computational text analysis tool introduced to screen grants for 'woke science' has flagged vital research on cancer, diabetes, and Alzheimer's disease, causing bottlenecks. The NIH has lost nearly 3,000 employees, and the administration has mandated that the agency pay the full cost of approved multiyear grants upfront, shrinking available capital for new research. The Trump administration has also canceled or frozen over 5,400 active agency grants. Funding for Alzheimer's disease and aging research was cut by more than half, and mental health research funding plummeted by 47 percent. The National Cancer Institute had earmarked only $72 million for new grants by late March 2026, less than one-third of its typical commitment.
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