An Executive Order on Jan 21, 2025 abolished all federal Diversity-Equity-Inclusion (DEI) initiatives cbsnews.com , prompting agencies to cancel or review grants deemed “ideological” (for example, NIH has reportedly terminated awards in areas like vaccine hesitancy and transgender health washingtonpost.com washingtonpost.com ). In parallel, an OPM memo directed all agencies to fire probationary hires healthpolicy-watch.news , resulting in mass layoffs across HHS. By early 2025 the administration had already cut roughly 20,000 public-health jobs washingtonpost.com (reducing HHS staff from ~82,000 to ~62,000 reuters.com ). For instance, about 1,300 CDC employees (∼10% of CDC’s workforce) and 1,500 NIH employees were laid off (mostly new hires) in February 2025 npr.org healthpolicy-watch.news .
Other high-profile executive actions included canceling a historic swath of COVID-era funding. In late March 2025 CDC abruptly rescinded $11.4 billion in grants to state and local health departments (funds originally allocated for testing, vaccinations and community outreach) cidrap.umn.edu . HHS announced “the COVID-19 pandemic is over, and we will no longer waste billions” responding to it cidrap.umn.edu . Several states reported these cuts as “sudden and unexpected” disruptions cidrap.umn.edu . Meanwhile NIH imposed a 15% cap on indirect (overhead) costs for all grants (effective Feb 2025) technologynetworks.com , and halted funding to many foreign research labs nature.com . (A court later enjoined the overhead cap medtechdive.com .) In April, HHS Secretary Kennedy even signed a broad restructuring: HHS workforce by 25%, divisions from 28 to 15, and nearly half the regional offices eliminated. In sum, the Trump team combined a sweeping FY2026 budget proposal (if enacted by Congress) with aggressive executive restructuring: defunding programs, terminating grants, and firing thousands of health-agency staff medtechdive.com npr.org .
Impact on Biomedical Research
Federal cuts have directly disrupted biomedical science. NIH was ordered to cancel hundreds of research grants on topics seen as politically sensitive washingtonpost.com . A Washington Post exposé reports NIH will end many grants on vaccine hesitancy, transgender health, space biology, tuberculosis, etc. washingtonpost.com . Universities lost billions: for example, the University of Maryland announced over $12 million in NIH/NSF contracts were canceled or frozen cbsnews.com . UMD President Darryll Pines said the administration was “using a filter of DEI as a lens to cancel, pause or delay the funding” of faculty research cbsnews.com . Johns Hopkins University likewise cut ~2,000 positions after losing USAID research contracts cbsnews.com . These institutional disruptions “threaten a decades-long partnership between government and universities that has fueled American scientific dominance” washingtonpost.com .
Beyond grant cuts, NIH’s new funding rules have alarmed analysts. On Feb 7, NIH published guidance capping indirect-cost rates at 15% for all grants technologynetworks.com . Since most universities recover 40–60% overhead today, researchers warned this change “could cripple” labs’ budgets technologynetworks.com technologynetworks.com . NIH also paused or cut many global-health collaborations nature.com : thousands of HIV, malaria and tuberculosis projects at foreign labs were halted. Former NIH Director Francis Collins – speaking of these moves – said “These decisions will have tragic consequences,” adding that shutting NIH foreign awards means “more children and adults in low-income countries will now lose their lives” due to unfinished disease research nature.com . In summary, biomedical researchers report grant freezes and cancellations across nearly every discipline (cancer, immunology, maternal health, etc.), with projects abruptly halted overnight npr.org cbsnews.com .