Northwestern and UChicago hit hard as NIH slashes research funding
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The National Institutes of Health has terminated millions in research grants, including some focused on LGBTQ+ health initiatives, at Chicago-area universities.
The big picture: NIH has cut funding for at least 10 research projects at Northwestern and University of Chicago is one of several universities suing the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and NIH over funding cuts.
Zoom in: NIH cuts targeted the work of Northwestern's Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing (ISGMH), which focuses its research on health equity for sexual and gender minorities, groups increasingly under attack by the Trump administration.
- One project that lost funding was researching connections between HIV and substance use among marginalized communities, according to The Daily Northwestern, which first reported on the cuts.
Meanwhile, UChicago has more than 3,000 active NIH grants totaling more than $1 billion and estimates it will lose $52 million over the next 12 months, according to the lawsuit.
- The grants support research into diabetes prevention and treatment, celiac disease treatment and prostate cancer, the university says.
By the numbers: Illinois and 21 other states sued the NIH in February over anticipated funding cuts.
- Illinois has at least 10 universities with "high" or "very high" research activity, and at least nine of the state's public universities receive NIH grants, according to the lawsuit.
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign received $325 million from NIH last year and could lose $67 million in annual funding, the lawsuit states.
The latest: The HHS, which oversees NIH, is cutting 10,000 jobs from the department.
What they're saying: The NIH did not respond to Axios' question about why the HHS chose to terminate specific grants.
- But White House spokesperson Kush Desai told Axios last month, "The Trump administration is committed to restoring the 'Gold Standard' of scientific research by restoring transparency with how our taxpayer dollars are being spent while cutting waste and bureaucratic overhead."
Go deeper: See a list of university grants terminated by HHS.