Kicking Butt and Taking Names: Trump Puts NIH On Notice

NIH has canceled scientific meetings in the face of Trump’s funding freeze. Egads, what will we do? You could almost hear the uproar from the academic research community, not to mention the thousands of bureaucrats at the NIH, as President Trump froze all federal NIH funding on Monday, January 27. Researchers were reeling: “There will be incalculable damage!!” they cried.

Here are some of the headlines: “Chaos Erupts!” “Devastating Freezes” and “Trump Rescinded Order But NIH Scientists Are Still Confused.” These headlines are sensational. There was actually one article that stated the countless medical discoveries that would not be made during this tumultuous time. The freeze was initiated January 21 and was expected to be lifted by February 1. I doubt that in two weeks’ time, we will have countless medical discoveries anyway.

Is there some minor discomfort? Yes. Catastrophic “incalculable” damage, no. By freezing these grants, agencies like the National Science Foundation (NSF) and NIH are not able to award new grants, distribute reimbursement funding, have meetings to review grants, or have any communications with the outside world. Despite a federal judge blocking Trump’s order, and Trump later rescinding the order, US universities had already advised faculty members against spending federal grant dollars on travel, new research projects, equipment and more. Again, hardly a catastrophic loss. Maybe a few less beakers and a cancelled trip, but not catastrophic.

Scientists Are Confused, Oh My!

There was lots of confusion about what was and was not covered by the freeze, but again, all the kerfuffle was overcomplicating things. John Holdren, Obama’s former US science advisor said this: “If somehow they are allowed to get away with this, the disruption is almost incalculable.”

It’s not about what Trump’s team is getting away with. As usual, this is a case of projection. It’s about what NIH and other agencies may be getting away with. Developmental biologist Carole LaBonne said this: “It will be much easier to destroy the world’s greatest scientific ecosystem than it will be to try to rebuild it.” And LaBonne knows about the NIH ecosystem; it has been funding her for over 20 years.

They’re not trying to destroy the ecosystem, but I am certain that they are trying to look in detail at where all the money (our taxpayer money) is going. Part of the “ecosystem” she laments involves foreign entities.

Don’t Forget About Daszak

Let’s not forget that in January 2025, Dr. Peter Daszak was formally debarred by HHS for using taxpayer funding to facilitate dangerous gain-of-function research in Wuhan, China.

Daszak has received millions from NIH, an agency that awards a significant amount of funding each year for various research grants and other types of contracts, and cooperative agreements. Data for government fiscal year 2022-2023 shows that NIH awarded $47 billion. The large majority of that (85%) goes to funding outside of NIH; called extramural research, these funds go to research at universities, hospitals and other institutions. NIH also funds career development grants and small business innovation research, but universities and hospitals get the large majority of funding. NIH is comprised of 18 institutes, each focusing on a specific health area. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) receives the largest amount of funding by far.

That funding can go to foreigners who can be awarded NIH grants. Even if someone is not a US citizen or permanent resident, that person can apply for an NIH grant. The only requirement? The person must be affiliated with a US-based institution, and that institution must be eligible to receive NIH funding. The foreign applicant may be asked to have an H1-B visa, but it is not necessarily required. And, if you want a grant, but you’re not affiliated with an institution inside the US, you can still get an NIH grant; just meet eligibility criteria and “other requirements.”

Are you starting to see what the problem might be?

Cooperation With China

If you want a grant, you could always align yourself with the U.S.-China Program for Biomedical Research Cooperation or other similar programs. This joint initiative between NIH and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) funds collaborative research projects between U.S. and Chinese scientists. And none of us should be surprised that Fauci set this up, forming the group in 2010 under NIAID.

Both countries contribute funds to focus on pressing matters like genomics and emerging threats like COVID-19. Yikes, it is right under our noses!

What could possibly go wrong? Daszak’s gain of function? Yes. Because the NIH directly funds Chinese institutions like Wuhan University. US universities are additionally rewarded for “facilitating international cooperation” and can receive NIH grants that way.

Daszak repeatedly violated the terms of his NIH grant, by submitting late reports, ignoring government oversight requests and most of all, failing to report that he was doing dangerous gain-of-function research in Wuhan. “Given that a lab-related incident involving gain-of-function research is the most likely origin of COVID-19, EcoHealth and its former President should never again receive a single cent from the U.S. taxpayer.” Correct. How many others are like Daszak? Maybe none, but the Trump administration just wanted to pause a bit for a review. What’s wrong with that?

Daszak Is Not The Only One

The Cleveland Clinic Foundation (CCF) is a medical colossus that just paid the US government $7.6 million to resolve allegations it mismanaged three NIH grants involving foreign research support. Let’s just expose the elephant in the room: these NIH grants to foreign entities are a convenient way for China to steal US technology. Many US policymakers agree. The CCF settlement is a record amount, a high price to pay for not being truthful at every stage of the grants process.

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has prosecuted many cases involving scientists defrauding the government, but has won very few. Most of the cases involve a failure to disclose research support received from China. However, the Trump DOJ has sent a clear message that things are about to change: “research institutions will be held accountable for mistakes in monitoring outside support to their faculty.” Interestingly, the CCF case used a Civil War-era law called the False Claims Act (FCA); it has been used to collect money from institutions which fail to properly monitor researcher foreign ties. The CCF case started with an investigation of geneticist Qing Wang who was on an FBI list of over 3,000 scientists believed to have received funding through one of the many Chinese programs aimed at attracting world-class scientists, many of who are of Chinese ancestry. When the NIH crosschecked the FBI list with their own list of funded scientists, Wang’s name popped up. The NIH began to scour his publications for evidence showing he had not disclosed research support from China. NIH asked CCF to investigate. They did and within days, NIH suspended Wang’s $2.8 million grant and terminated his employment. He was later arrested, but a year later, the DOJ abruptly dropped his prosecution without explanation. Wang has restarted his research in China, at the Huazhong University of Science and Technology. The DOJ may have dropped the case because they found a bigger violation at CCF. However, CCF denies wrongdoing; they blame Wang for the violations and say they did not know he was falsifying information.

Trump is ushering in a new era, and everyone is running around like Chicken Little. Former NIH Director Harold Varmus said that since Congress allocates funding to NIH, and that Trump is directly flying in the face of it: “the will of Congress will be challenged if we don’t change what is going on.” Have you ever noticed that these yahoos only talk about themselves and how they’re impacted, and never talk about the will of the American people? What if Congress and the NIH are both corrupt? We’re glad someone is finally freezing the funds and checking the books.