HHS cuts $350M in gender ideology, DEI grants

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has cut funding for over 500 research grants, totaling more than $350 million. These grants were focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and gender ideology projects. HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon stated that the agency is prioritizing research that has a greater impact on Americans' health. He described the terminated projects as "wasteful," claiming they do not significantly pertain to public health. Among the cuts was a nearly $1 million grant for a study on structural racism at the University of Maryland-Baltimore. This project aimed to create tools to measure structural racism in order to address health disparities. Several projects studying gender-affirming hormone therapies in mice were also affected. One of these grants, worth around $1 million, was aimed at understanding how hormone treatments impact skeletal development in mice. The cuts also included funding for diversity initiatives in academic settings, such as a $5 million grant to help recruit more racially diverse researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. These funding cuts are part of a broader agenda established under the Trump administration. A judge briefly blocked some of these funding freezes, but many restrictions on DEI and gender ideology research have remained in place. Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, nominated to be the next NIH director, has faced scrutiny over these funding decisions. He has indicated he will comply with the law while reviewing the implications of the cuts. Bhattacharya's vision for NIH includes focusing on research that directly benefits health outcomes and ensuring that researchers have the resources they need.