The nation’s universities and academic medical centers were reeling Saturday from a directive by the Trump administration to slash funding for medical research, a decision that doctors and scientists said would have a devastating effect on studies aimed at finding treatments for diseases such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease.
The change is aimed at reducing the amount of tax dollars that universities spend on overhead costs. The National Institutes of Health, which announced the move Friday evening, said $9 billion of $35 billion — or about 26% — of grant dollars distributed last year had gone to overhead.
The new policy, which takes effect Monday, will cap "indirect funds” for costs like buildings, utilities and support staff at 15% and is aimed at saving $4 billion.
Dr. David J. Skorton, president of the Association of American Medical Colleges, said the policy would sharply cut funds to universities and medical centers that do NIH-funded research, likely limiting the number of studies that could go forward.
"These are real consequences, longer waits for cures and for diagnosis, slower scientific progress, losing out to competitors around the world, and fewer jobs,” he said, adding, "Those who are facing any health challenges will suffer from less biomedical research.”
The administration has said the changes taking effect Monday will apply to existing grants.
The institutes are currently supporting about 11,000 research projects in cancer research. Infectious disease research is a close second, with nearly 9,000 projects under way. Much of the research the institutes fund is meant to discover how diseases work — in the interest of finding cures.
The NIH funds also support medical equipment suppliers and janitorial services nationwide.
The institutes spent about $35 billion in 2023 on about 50,000 competitive grants to about 300,000 researchers at 2,500 universities, medical schools and other research institutions nationwide, according to the Trump administration. Of that, about $26 billion directly funded research, and $9 billion covered indirect costs.
The indirect costs pay for buildings, utilities, lab equipment, cleaning costs and "research administration,” which includes the work of safety and regulatory committees that are mandated by the federal government, as well as animal caretakers and other support staff.
Dr. Norman Sharpless, a former director of the NIH’s National Cancer Institute, said he expected a forceful response from universities.
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This article originally appeared in The New York Times © 2025 The New York Times Company
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