6/4/25: The Disappearing Funds for Vaccine Research (New York Times ) Some changes have been starkly visible, but the country’s medical grant-making machinery has also radically transformed outside the public eye, a New York Times analysis found. To understand the cuts, The Times trawled through detailed grant data from the National Institutes of Health, interviewed dozens of affected researchers and spoke to agency insiders who said that their government jobs have become unrecognizable. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/06/04/health/trump-cuts-nih-grants-research.html
6/3/25: Request for Information (RFI): Inviting Comments on the NIH Artificial Intelligence (AI) Strategy (NIH NOT-OD-25-117) NIH is developing an institute-wide AI strategy that charts a progression from today’s data-science-driven analytics through semi-autonomous AI agents to fully autonomous, self-documenting biomedical AI beings. To inform this effort, NIH invites public comment on themes, pillars, and specific actions that should shape the forthcoming NIH AI Strategic Plan and its early one-year action plan. https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-25-117.html
6/3/25: JD Vance Wanted to ‘Aggressively Attack’ American Universities. His Wish Has Been Trump’s Command. (New York Times) Vice President JD Vance is the most florid member of the administration voicing this hatred of academia. Take, for example, the extraordinarily broad brush Vance used to describe institutions of higher learning in an address at the 2021 National Conservatism Convention: “Universities in our country are fundamentally corrupt and dedicated to deceit and lies, not to the truth,” Vance said, adding for good measure: “Universities do not pursue knowledge and truth. They pursue deceit and lies.” https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/03/opinion/harvard-trump-vance.html
6/2/25: Harvard seeks end to US funding cuts, says national security, public health research in peril (Reuters) Harvard University asked a federal judge on Monday to issue a summary judgment ruling to unfreeze $2.5 billion in funding blocked by President Donald Trump ‘s administration, which Harvard said was illegal. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/harvard-seeks-end-us-funding-cuts-says-national-security-public-health-research-2025-06-02/
6/2/25: DOGE vowed to make government more ‘efficient’ — but it’s doing the opposite (Washington Post) New procedures and requirements — some implemented in the name of improving operations — are slowing down federal agencies. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/06/02/doge-vowed-make-government-more-efficient-its-doing-opposite/
6/2/25: National Academies, staggering from Trump cuts, on brink of dramatic downsizing (Science) L ast Saturday, the morning after a news article announced major job losses coming at the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), National Academy of Sciences President Marcia McNutt wrote an apologetic memo to employees. Her statement to STAT that 250 people could lose their positions by summer’s end had come as news to the roughly 1100 NASEM staff. McNutt told staff “no decisions [have been] made” about the number of coming layoffs. https://www.science.org/content/article/national-academies-staggering-trump-cuts-brink-dramatic-downsizing
6/2/25: Trump’s proposed budget details drastic cuts to biomedical research and global health (Science) Documents released late last week are providing new details about the breadth and depth of the spending cuts the White House is asking Congress to make to public health and biomedical research programs in the 2026 fiscal year that begins on 1 October. https://www.science.org/content/article/trump-s-proposed-budget-details-dramatic-cuts-biomedical-research-and-global-health
