During a visit to the Medical College of Wisconsin on Friday, National Institutes of Health director Jay Bhattacharya defended the recent cancellations of some NIH grants.
In late February, the NIH terminated research grants related to LGBTQ+ issues, gender identity, and diversity, equity and inclusion. Also in February, the NIH issued a guidance that capped the indirect cost reimbursement rate for all current and new NIH awards to 15% of grants. A federal judge has since permanently blocked the guidance.
The MCW has so far lost about $5 million through eight canceled research grants, according to Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporting.
Wisconsin has nearly 1,200 active NIH grants totaling over $740 million, Bhattacharya said during his presentation.
Bhattacharya’s visit to the MCW was his first to an academic institution as the new NIH director, a role he has held since April 1. He joined the MCW president John Raymond for the seventh session of the President’s Speaker Series.
Bhattacharya first laid out his plans for the agency. At a time when the NIH is restricting the research it funds, Bhattacharya said that academic freedom, such as providing space for disagreement in science, was a priority.
“If we police each other from saying the things we don’t want people to say, the public isn’t going to trust us,” he said.
During the Q&A session, a researcher said their team “found out that we were facing catastrophic, potentially and unprecedented cuts to our NH funded grants.” As a result, entry-level research positions were cut and relationships with community partners are at risk, the researcher said.
“If you’re standing here and telling us that academic freedom is such a big priority, our boots are on the ground, and what we’re seeing is scientific censorship of research that had been peer reviewed and approved by the NIH and is now being deprioritized due to political ideology,” the researcher said.
Bhattacharya said that those seeking NIH grants should avoid political ideology. He used systemic racism and climate change as examples, saying that systemic racism is “difficult” to falsify.
“My promise to you is that if you put your talents to the things that actually affect American health and avoid political ideology, you’re going to be very successful,” Bhattacharya said.
David Margolis, chair of the MCW pediatrics department, asked Bhattacharya about how NIH-funded research can be used to prevent children from dying from gun violence.
Bhattacharya said that when considering questions about possible interventions to research, “we have to do it in a way that’s respectful of the people who have very, very different opinions than us.”
“I think a lot of the research that’s done on gun violence are often conveyed to the public in ways that are very prescriptive, that step on sensibilities that are best handled with respect and humility,” Bhattacharya said. “The purpose of the NIH isn’t to solve the gun violence problem in the country. It’s the purpose the NIH is to understand the science behind it.”
Before moving on to the next question, Margolis said the MCW’s Comprehensive Injury Center “would love to have its NIH funding maintained and continued.”
The CIC is the only U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-designated Injury Control Research Center in Wisconsin. It focuses on reducing injury disparities, such as looking at prevention of traumatic brain injuries, opioid overdoses, gun violence and suicide.
Autism research
Falling under Bhattacharya’s focus to “realign” NIH research priorities with public health priorities is the goal to understand autism. The NIH recently backtracked on a plan to create a national autism registry, which received widespread criticism.
Another person in attendance asked how Bhattacharya planned to regain the trust of the autism community following U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s recent comments about autism.
“What are you going to do to restore that trust for that population, for autistic people and their families, and get them to be willing to work with researchers who now are uncertain if they count as full humans anymore?” the individual asked Bhattacharya.
Bhattacharya said the NIH’s research requires collaboration with the autism community. He also said that Kennedy’s “words maybe sounded wrong to some folks, but they were not meant that way.”
