Oregon Health & Science University is by far the biggest recipient of National Institutes of Health funding in Oregon, receiving more than $277 million last year. (Photo courtesy of Aaron Bieleck/OHSU)
Last week, the Trump administration cancelled a series of panels that help determine how billions in federal health dollars are spent, including hundreds of millions of dollars a year to Oregon universities, biotech companies and disease-related nonprofits.
The meetings, run by the National Institutes of Health, are key to determining federal medical grants, which have funded scientific and medical breakthroughs like the Human Genome Project, which is mapping human genes and tying them to diseases for possible cures, and the development of a new vaccine technology that was used in COVID vaccines and saved countless lives during the pandemic.
Experts in every field of medical research gather at the meetings to decide which topics and projects are most deserving of these funds.
Their cancellation, first reported by STAT News, worries local researchers, doctors and patients, who fear that the Trump administration, in its drive to cut spending, may stall or even cut off vital funds that pay for research on cancer, dementia and other conditions. NIH distributes about $40 billion a year in grants, and right now in Oregon, over $500 million in funded projects are in progress, supporting more than 5,000 jobs.
Dr. Esther Choo, professor of Emergency Medicine at Oregon Health & Science University, was on the review panel for one of the cancelled sessions. Choo’s session last Thursday was set to review projects addressing the opioid crisis. She calls the cancellations unprecedented in her career.
“I have never seen it stop for any amount of time,” said Choo. “I haven’t yet encountered a researcher who remembers study sections and reviews being paused.”
Even major world events like the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and the early days of the pandemic did not cause this kind of cancellation, she adds.
Choo notes that the meetings are nearly impossible to reschedule, because they bring 25 to 30 experts from around the country into a room or online meeting at one time. They are scheduled months in advance, setting aside one day they can all meet.
The sessions operate almost constantly for different research areas and specialties, with more than 1,200 scheduled each year. Every day that the pause continues could mean several missed sessions that may never be made up.
OHSU is by far the biggest recipient in Oregon. More than 70% of all new NIH funding in Oregon last year went to OHSU, a total of over $277 million. That is about four times what the state Legislature gives to the university each year, and almost half of its total research funding. That money is divided among almost 500 different projects, from cancer and AIDS research to studies on suicide prevention and the causes of dementia.
An OHSU spokesperson, Sara Hottman, declined to comment on the potential impact of any change in NIH funding.
“In the coming weeks and months, we will notify OHSU researchers of any federal actions that immediately impact the research mission,” Hottman said in a statement.
Every large university in Oregon has significant funding from NIH, including $40 million last year for the University of Oregon and $21 million for Oregon State University. Several OSU researchers did not respond to a request for comment and OSU’s College of Health declined to comment.
Beyond academic research, funds also went to small biotech startups and foundations working on specific diseases. A $10,000 grant last year went to the Clackamas-based HER Foundation, which helps patients dealing with Hyperemesis Gravidarum, a condition that causes extreme sickness and other health issues during pregnancy.
Kimber MacGibbon, executive director of the HER Foundation, told the Capital Chronicle that last year’s grant helped them to put on a research conference about the little-studied disease.
Two other organizations that receive NIH funds — the Children’s Cancer Therapy Development Institute in Hillsboro, which works to put new cancer drugs into clinical trials, and Portland-based Boulder Care, which offers telehealth access to addiction treatment — did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
The meeting cancellations add to researchers’ concerns of a more general disruption in government health support. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issues a Mortality and Morbidity Report each Thursday, outlining news and guidance for doctors and health care officials on disease outbreaks, research and other urgent topics. For the first time in nearly 60 years, it did not publish on Thursday.
Monica Bertagnolli stepped down as Director of the NIH on Jan. 17. President Trump’s appointee, Jay Bhattacharya, is awaiting Senate confirmation. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is Trump’s pick to run the Department of Health and Human Services, NIH’s parent agency, which also oversees the CDC. Kennedy’s confirmation hearings are scheduled for this week.
Reviewers and researchers have more than just professional worries about the meeting cancellations. Their reactions can be very personal too.
“They’re not only scientists. They’re clinicians, or they have family members with the disease,” said Choo. “People are just so depressed about what this means for science and for our communities.”
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