Targeted Grant Terminations Have Affected 694 NIH Grants

Terminations resulted in $1.81 billion in terminated grant funding; 30.0 percent had not been expended at time of termination

By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, May 8, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Targeted grant terminations have affected 694 National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants, resulting in $1.81 billion in terminated grant funding, according to a research letter published online May 8 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Michael Liu, M.Phil., from Harvard Medical School in Boston, and colleagues calculated the number and corresponding funding amounts of terminated NIH grants overall and by institute or center and award type. The proportions of terminated grants and funding dollars were calculated across all previously active grants.

The researchers found that 694 NIH grants were terminated across 24 of the 26 institutes and centers that administered active NIH grants between Feb. 28 and April 8, 2025. Of the grants administered by the NIH Clinical Center or the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, none were terminated. The cumulative amount of terminated grant funding was $1.81 billion; at the time of grant termination, 30.0 percent had not been expended. The highest number of grant terminations was seen at Columbia University (157 terminations), followed by Johns Hopkins University, Yale University, Emory University, and the University of Michigan (19, 14, 14, and 14 terminations, respectively). The largest number of terminated grants was administered by the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (128 and 77 terminations, respectively). Across the 694 terminated grants, 57.6, 20.0, 16.0, and 6.3 percent, respectively, were research project grants, early-career grants, other grants, and center grants, respectively.

“Ongoing monitoring and data transparency will be critical for understanding the impact of grant terminations on the U.S. health research enterprise,” the authors write.

Two authors disclosed ties to industry.