Hundreds of scientists sent National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Bhattacharya a letter titled the Bethesda Declaration, dissenting to “policies that undermine the NIH mission, waste public resources, and harm the health of Americans and people across the globe.”

• The declaration is modeled after Bhattacharya’s Great Barrington Declaration in 2020 that dissented against COVID lockdown policies.

The signatories:

• More than 300 NIH staffers from all 27 institutes and centers gave their support. That includes 92 researchers, program directors, branch chiefs, and scientific review officers who put their signatures on the letter and 250 who endorsed the declaration without using their names.
• 39 outside signatories, including Nobel laureates, former NIH institute and program directors, and other leaders in the scientific community, also joined.

The details:

• The declaration says the signers were “compelled to speak up when our leadership prioritizes political momentum over human safety and faithful stewardship of public resources.”
• It addresses the termination of 2,100 research grants valued at more than $12 billion and the resulting human costs, calling out “indiscriminate grant terminations, payment freezes for ongoing research, and blanket holds on awards regardless of the quality, progress, or impact of the science.”
• It asks Bhattacharya to restore grants that were terminated for political reasons; allow rigorously peer-reviewed research with vetted foreign collaborators to continue; restore peer review and hold political appointees to the same standards as other scientists; continue indirect rates; and reinstate fired employees.

The context: The letter came a day before Bhattacharya was set to testify before the Senate about Trump’s proposed budget.

• The budget proposes slashing NIH’s funding by around 40%. It would reduce the number of new grants awarded and existing grants for ongoing research. It would give more of its grant recipients all of their money up-front, but many fewer would receive awards. The consolidation of centers/institutes would reduce funding by 35-40% and reduce program staff by nearly 1,000 full-time employees.
• Bhattacharya offered a lukewarm defense of the budget proposal during testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee, saying “the budget is a collaboration between Congress and the administration.”
• Republican and Democratic lawmakers struggled to reconcile Bhattacharya’s stated commitment to research with the recent grant terminations, funding delays, and proposed spending cuts.

Why it’s important: The administration has cut several NIH grants for studies focused on mental health and addiction, with some caught up in the political terminations referenced by the declaration. The budget proposes consolidating the institutes focused on mental health, drug use, and alcohol use, likely meaning less funding for these areas going forward.

What’s coming: Congress will have to pass a budget of its own for NIH.

• The hearing underscored that NIH still has strong bipartisan support. But with Congress under pressure to pay for tax cuts in the reconciliation bill, the budget proposal may still pass.