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aniloza.bsky.social
anil oza
@aniloza.bsky.social
4.6K followers 1.5K following 430 posts
science journalist @stat covering health equity, the nih, and interaction btwn science & society | also: npr, nature, sciam, science, science news (he/him) (signal: aniloza.16)
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aniloza.bsky.social
The past year has sure been ... unique ... as @disabilitystor1.bsky.social put it at the time (before Trump took office)
screenshot reading "The Siri report underscored that the U.S. is in a political moment “unique in the history of public health,” Nair said — namely, that people close to power “are antagonistic to the idea that societies and states, working together, can ameliorate population-level illness and make life better for us.”"
January 22, 2026 at 6:17 PM
aniloza.bsky.social
One example here, in response to our reporting on grants being scanned for certain phrases
Screenshot of the STAT interview with Tony Letai. Question, in bold, reads "One example of something that people described as harming the trust was the report of “banned words” being searched for at the NCI, and having grants be denied on the basis of such words. Specifically, words like sex, equity, minority." The response, unbolded, is "I can assure you that no one’s grant is being rejected based on the presence of one or several words. It is true that there was a directive, or at least an emphasis in the previous administration. To accentuate grant funding, based on priorities that we feel are distinct from the priorities of reducing the burden of cancer. These include, of course, DEI initiatives. We instead feel that it’s very important to fund the best cancer research, no matter what the color of the skin of the applicant is. The NCI has depoliticized aspects of the grant review process, and of course, it is being described by many as politicization. I think that really depends on what your feelings are about some of these issues, but I would certainly view it as depoliticization."
January 22, 2026 at 4:08 PM
aniloza.bsky.social
and this story is specifically about how it’s hurt early career researchers

www.statnews.com/2025/12/18/n...
NIH funding rates for early-career researchers plunged in 2025, new data show
A Trump administration change to how NIH awards grants has sharply reduced early-stage investigators’ odds of securing funding.
www.statnews.com
January 21, 2026 at 11:09 AM
aniloza.bsky.social
Yup, this is absolutely something we have been tracking (and will continue to do so)

We wrote a bit about the fallout of the MYF mandate in this story from last week — and how it could be a potential route to impoundment or budget cuts:

www.statnews.com/2026/01/16/n...
Limit on multiyear funding of NIH grants is a sticking point in Senate budget talks
A clause limiting the use of multiyear NIH grant funding has become a sticking point as the Senate appropriations panel finalizes the HHS spending bill.
www.statnews.com
January 21, 2026 at 11:09 AM
aniloza.bsky.social
Previous language in the package limited use of multiyear funding to FY24 levels

Since then, was changed to FY 25 - after OMB required more use of the budgeting strategy (around 30% of grants were funded that way)

www.statnews.com/2026/01/16/n...
Limit on multiyear funding of NIH grants is a sticking point in Senate budget talks
A clause limiting the use of multiyear NIH grant funding has become a sticking point as the Senate appropriations panel finalizes the HHS spending bill.
www.statnews.com
January 20, 2026 at 8:01 PM
aniloza.bsky.social
And here was the language in the bill as it was last updated:

“None of the funds appropriated by this Act may be used to increase the proportion of multi-year grants … unless the NIH awards at least the same number of total grants in fiscal year 2026 as in fiscal year 2024.”
January 17, 2026 at 12:02 AM
aniloza.bsky.social
From the past year, we already have some idea of the impacts the MYF mandate from OMB is having
Screenshot reading “The National Cancer Institute, which was the first institute to project the impact of multiyear funding, predicted it would fund 1 in 25 proposals, down from about 1 in 10 in 2024. At the end of the fiscal year, the NIH had funded 3,758 R01 and R21 awards, which represent the bulk of research grants to universities, down from 5,633 the previous year, despite spending a similar amount of money. Data from the NIH presented at a public meeting showed that early-career researchers had been impacted by the change, and their odds of securing funding dropped from 29.8% to 18.5%.”
January 17, 2026 at 12:02 AM
aniloza.bsky.social
Here is the before/after
Screenshot reading "Over the past quarter of a century, NIAID’s overall strategic plan — which is being updated after almost a decade — had three main foci: (1) HIV research, including developing a vaccine or cure; (2) civilian biodefense and pandemic preparedness; and (3) all other priorities, including most infections and allergic, immunological and autoimmune conditions. To this end, we articulate here a new vision for the work of the NIAID in the twenty-first century. As infectious agents and immune responses and our understanding of them evolve, the research agenda should evolve to address their crucial roles in maintaining human health and preventing or treating disease." Screenshot reading "Given these considerations, our vision for reforming the NIAID is to replace these three strategic aims with just two: (1) to address the most impactful infectious diseases that Americans currently face with evidence from gold standard science; and (2) to support innovative research to address fundamental studies in immunology and allergic and autoimmune diseases to improve patient outcomes (Fig. 1)."
January 16, 2026 at 2:03 PM