Dear colleagues,

Below, please find updates on federal politics and lawsuits that bear on research grants and publications. As always, please feel free to reach out to me with any questions.

  • National Institutes of Health may hold off awarding new grants to Columbia, Harvard, Brown, Northwestern, Cornell, and its affiliated medical school, Cornell-Weill Medicine according to an internal email discovered by Stat. The memo also instructs NIH staff not to communicate with the universities about whether or why funds are frozen. Grants previously been awarded to these universities had already been paused.  According to the email, the order originated in the office of the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
  • The Trump administration is considering a broader cut as well. One purported plan is to reduce the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) budget by more than 30%, reducing discretionary funding from $116.8 billion to roughly $80.4 billion. The proposal would eliminate entire agencies (HRSA, AHRQ), consolidate programs under a new Administration for a Healthy America (AHA), and flatten the federal government’s role in public health, mental health, and chronic disease prevention. The plan is outlined in a preliminary document from the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and remains subject to change.
  • Scientific bodies, academics and state attorneys have so far filed five lawsuits directed mainly against the NIH and its parent body, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), including two suits launched last week. All five cases make arguments based on the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), a 1946 statute that governs how federal administrative bodies establish regulations. The complaints argue that the NIH’s actions have been “arbitrary and capricious” rather than following normal procedures.
  • On 4 April, a federal judge who heard all three suits from academic institutions, non-profit groups and 22 state attorneys — who act as a state’s legal representative — filed three separate suits over the indirect-costs policy,permanently blocked implementation of the indirect rate cap. The NIH is now appealing that decision. 
  • The Office of Research has published a detailed set of guidelines for managing early grant termination; accessing the guidance document requires a BU login. The link is also posted on the Office of Research 2025 Administration Transition Information & Resources. With support from OGC and SP, Boston University now filed its first three appeals of grant terminations.
  • The NIH and 25 of its centers and institutes have held about 770 study-section meetings in the 2025 fiscal year so far, just half of the historical average for this time frame.
  • A federal prosecutor has sent letters to at least three medical journals accusing them of political bias and suggesting that the journals mislead readers. One of the letters was sent to the journal Chest, published by the American College of Chest Physicians; the other two journals have chosen not to publicize their targeting. The health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has said he wants to prosecute medical journals for corruption, accusing them of lying to the public and colluding with pharmaceutical companies.
  • If you want to see for yourself which NIH study sections and advisory councils are being scheduled, you can view Federal Register updates from the NIH here:https://www.federalregister.gov/agencies/national-institutes-of-health
  • Guidance from the University Office of Sponsored Programs remains unchanged. Any concerns by PIs about non-renewal of federal grant funding, stop work orders, or notices of funding “pauses” should be directed to Dean McClean. PIs should not take personnel actions in response to anticipated federal funding disruptions without prior consultation with and approval from Sponsored Programs, which Dean McClean will help facilitate.
  • All labor requests, travel, and external consultants on unrestricted funds (school money) and discretionary funds continue to fall under the budget controls and a request for approval is required. Please direct any questions to the Associate Dean for Administration and Finance, Dean Lazic at iralazic@bu.edu.

Thank you for continuing to submit grants and seek funding for your important work.

Michael Stein
Dean ad interim

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