But we can no longer lend our credibility to an organization that has lost its integrity. In recent months, each of us independently reached the decision to resign in protest of the actions of an administration that treats science not as a process for building knowledge, but as a means to advance its political agenda. One of us resigned just Friday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We have resigned because:<\/p>\n
We protest the hypocrisy of an NIH leadership that claims to protect academic freedom while censoring grants and staff communication. Instead of applying our skills and knowledge to science, we have been instructed to tell scientists competing for NIH funding to remove words like \u201cequity,\u201d \u201cdiversity,\u201d \u201cminority,\u201d and \u201cunderserved,\u201d regardless of the scientific appropriateness of these terms or the significance of the projects. To this day, grants continue to be \u201crealigned\u201d with administration priorities, a clear form of ideological coercion. The damage to research and destabilizing effects on the scientific workforce will be long lasting.<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\t We protest an NIH leadership that claims<\/a> to champion early-career scientists and prioritize \u201csolutions-oriented\u201d health disparities research while selectively terminating and censoring these awards. We witnessed unilateral withdrawals of applications and terminations of active awards to early-career scientists simply because they had applied to funding announcements designed to broaden participation in the scientific workforce. The progress or promise of this science was never considered.<\/p>\n Similarly, funding announcements that solicited research to address health disparities were disappeared from the public record because they were deemed \u201cDEI.\u201d Associated applications were withdrawn without review and awards were terminated. Some of these applications and awards were in our portfolios and we urged reconsideration of these actions, providing justifications based on the awards\u2019 merit and even its actual alignment with publicly stated priorities. Our requests went unanswered and the grantees\u2019 appeals were ignored. These decisions will hurt American communities and stifle scientific advancements for decades to come.<\/p>\n We protest an NIH leadership that creates a culture of fear within the agency\u2019s dedicated staff. Colleagues who question illegal and politically motivated orders have been silenced, with some placed on leave <\/a>or forced out<\/a>. Each of us has been told not to push back because \u201cpeople would lose their jobs.\u201d Refrains heard in the hallways include: \u201cWhat I\u2019m being asked to do feels wrong, but I need my health insurance\u201d and \u201cwe have to keep our heads down and avoid putting a target on our backs.\u201d These should not be concerns articulated in a world-class scientific institution.<\/p>\n Upholding our oath of office \u2014 \u201cto protect and defend the Constitution from enemies foreign and domestic\u201d \u2014 and living up to our values requires us to leave the jobs we previously cherished.<\/p>\n We are by no means the only ones leaving. Many of our colleagues have resigned, have retired earlier than planned, or are actively taking steps to leave the NIH, sometimes at great personal sacrifice. Other colleagues are wrestling with whether the costs of staying outweighs the costs of leaving.<\/p>\n In sharing our personal reasons for leaving, we hope to let our colleagues know they are not alone in recognizing the harms that are undermining the agency they loved.<\/p>\n A stable research funding infrastructure is essential to solve the country\u2019s health challenges and to support a functional democracy where policy is based on evidence. Despite leaving the NIH, we refuse to lose hope. We remain committed to the work of advancing science and improving public health.<\/p>\n To researchers whose work lifts up vulnerable communities and who have devoted their work to currently \u201csensitive\u201d topics \u2014 vaccines, health equity, the health of sexual and gender minorities, climate change, misinformation: We need to continue to speak up and speak out. We also need to work together to build new opportunities for this critical work until the NIH returns to its mission.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/wp-content\/themes\/stat\/images\/home\/statplus.svg\")
\n\t\t\t\tSTAT Plus: NIH specifies how grant reviewers should ensure alignment with Trump priorities<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/STAT_Trump_HHS_1.2-1-768x432.jpg\")
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