Cancel Culture for Science: Explore the Cuts to U.S. Biomedical Research

by Jon Scaccia April 17, 2025

As of April 2025, the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) has terminated nearly 800 active research projects. These weren’t failures or frauds—many were top-rated by peer reviewers and were actively making progress on issues such as COVID-19, HIV/AIDS, mental health, and health equity.

The reason? Politics.

As part of a sweeping realignment of federal priorities, the administration invoked vague claims that the projects “no longer effectuated agency priorities.” But beneath that bureaucratic language lies a chilling trend: research tied to race, LGBTQ+ health, climate, and misinformation is being shut down at an unprecedented scale.

Over $2.3 billion in funding has been clawed back. Universities are laying off teams. Some labs have shuttered completely.

This dashboard visualizes the damage. Using data from Nature, use it to explore:

• Where these cuts hit hardest
• Which institutions lost the most
• What kinds of topics were disproportionately flagged
• And whether the politics of your district played a role

You can also see how funding cuts affected institutions that serve low-income students and historically marginalized groups—like HBCUs and colleges with high Pell Grant enrollment.

This isn’t just about grants. It’s about who gets to do science in America—and what questions we’re still allowed to ask.

🚨 Start here. Share what you find. Science needs all of us.

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