NIH cuts are hurting Black medical schools
The National Institutes of Health has ended hundreds of grants to colleges and hospitals. For Meharry Medical College, a historically Black school, the reduction is devastating.
President Trump’s administration has terminated research grants to colleges and hospitals across America, and the cuts are especially painful for historically Black institutions.
Dr. James E.K. Hildreth Sr., president and CEO of Meharry Medical College, says NIH cuts are threatening staff and discouraging young researchers from entering the field.
Dr. James E.K. Hildreth Sr., CEO of Meharry Medical College, says the school lost its main research infrastructure grant from the National Institutes of Health. It would be a small grant to some larger universities, but it’s a significant loss for Meharry, a historically Black medical school in Nashville.
“For us, it supports 60 staff members, some of them fully supported by the grant, others partially supported by the grant. It also provided substantial support for our core,” Hildreth tells Chief Healthcare Executive®.
Like other institutions, Meharry has invested in a core facility where specialized equipment is located, rather than having individual investigators buy their own tools. Putting that equipment in a core facility supports many investigators, and Hildreth says it has been important to help develop Meharry’s research portfolio.
“That support is in jeopardy,” Hildreth says. “And so it's very concerning to me.”
Through May 5, the NIH has terminated 777 research grants totaling $1.9 billion, according to data from the Association of American Medical Colleges. More than $1 billion in grants have been ended at U.S. medical schools and hospitals, the AAMC says.
The NIH is the largest source of federal funds for medical research, but cuts in staffing and planned spending cuts have alarmed healthcare leaders.
The Morehouse School of Medicine, a historically Black school in Atlanta, has seen NIH funding cut for a research program aimed at pregnancy and postpartum care for Black women, CNN reports.
The NIH has also eliminated training grants, which Hildreth says is disturbing.
“I think for a lot of us who have trained PhD students and postdocs, this is very concerning, because the last thing we want to do is to discourage young people from pursuing research careers,” Hildreth says. “As they watch what is happening, you can't blame them, if they have some second thoughts, if they were considering pursuing this as their lifelong work.”
‘Lights have to be kept on’
In the wake of the cuts, medical schools and universities have been laying off staff because they don’t have the funds to support them.
Meharry is working on solutions to keep as many people as possible, but Hildreth says the medical school may have no choice but to trim staff, as other institutions have done. And he says the NIH’s moves to place a ceiling on administrative costs on research is compounding the problem.
The NIH has announced caps on “indirect” research costs, which medical schools and universities have said will stall research and lead to job cuts. The NIH has said the move would save billions of dollars and ensure research money goes to the laboratory.
Medical schools and universities argue that those indirect costs support essential components of research, ranging from computing services to security. Hildreth says cutting support of indirect costs results in institutions doing less research.
“The lights have to be kept on, the lab has to be heated or cooled. Somebody has to take out the hazardous waste to make sure it's disposed of appropriately. Some staff members have to make sure the financial management of the funds is what it needs to be,” he says.
Hildreth says he’s especially worried about the NIH cuts deterring others from pursuing careers in medical research. With cuts affecting medical schools and colleges across America, aspiring researchers could have fewer options.
“Even the major research institutions are having to make substantial cuts in their staff numbers because of the reliance they've had on the federal grants to support the resource infrastructure,” Hildreth says. “All the research institutions, at least academic institutions, are going through the same challenges.”
Healthcare leaders fear the prospect of deep cuts in research funding in the years to come. President Trump’s administration is proposing a 40% cut in the NIH’s budget for the 2026 fiscal year.
Some students and applicants are already expressing reluctance in light of the uncertain picture on federal research funding. He pointed out that some applicants to Meharry’s school on global health have expressed hesitancy about moving forward, including some professionals who were looking to get a master’s degree in global health or health policy.
“We were getting really, really strong interest in our programs from the school launched last year, but some of the applicants who applied to the school have even reached out to say they're having second thoughts and wondering whether or not this is the right time to do this,” Hildreth says.
“I think the impact of this is far reaching, and it's kind of hard to see where it's all going to land,” he added.
‘The impact is everywhere’
Dr. Elena Fuentes-Afflick, chief scientific officer of the Association of American Medical Colleges, tells Chief Healthcare Executive® that the NIH cuts could set back efforts to develop the next generations of researchers. She’s concerned about the impact of NIH cuts at historically Black medical schools and colleges.
“We've been in touch with our colleagues in Puerto Rico and other organizations within the United States that disproportionately serve minority communities,” Fuentes-Afflick says. “So the impact is everywhere, and it may be disproportionate in some communities, which is a great concern to us.”
Last year, Meharry received an unprecedented gift when Michael Bloomberg donated $175 million to the medical school. Bloomberg donated a total of $600 million to four Black medical colleges.
But that gift is specifically earmarked to attract medical students and pay for their education, a high priority in light of the shortage of Black doctors. About 5% of the nation’s doctors are Black.
“Mr. Bloomberg was very specific in what he wanted the funds used for, and that is to lower the debt burden of medical students, especially those here, because we have a track record of many of our students choosing primary care,” Hildreth says.
Hildreth says he’ll be making the case with lawmakers and the administration to restore the NIH grants that have been terminated and to provide appropriate funding for medical research.
“I haven't completely given up on the fact that the elected leaders still on both sides agree how important NIH is, and I'm not sure many of them have thought through the ramifications of what has happened,” Hildreth says. “Some of the things to me are just incomprehensible. I mean, I don't understand them. I don't understand the logic behind some of the things that have happened.”
“I will talk to anybody who will listen,” he says.
