NIH rocked by budget cuts, high-level resignations, communication crackdown

Less than one month into President Donald Trump’s second term, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is in the midst of an unprecedented shakeup with potentially far-reaching ramifications.

Since Trump took office, the agency, which funds and supports the majority of medical research and innovation across the US, has faced restrictions on what it can communicate to the public, broad funding cuts and, most recently, high-level resignations.

One of NIH’s top officials, Lawrence A. Tabak, stepped down and retired on February 12, according to Stat, which described Tabak as “the longtime No. 2 official” at the NIH. The principal deputy director of NIH, Tabak is a dentist and scientist who spent 15 years with the agency.

Neither Tabak nor the NIH have spoken publicly about the reason for the resignation, which comes as the Trump administration seeks to lower “indirect costs” on all NIH grants to 15%. The NIH, which has a budget of $48 billion, said in a statement posted to X that the agency spent $9 billion last year on indirect costs and asserted that capping these costs at 15% would save $4 billion. The NIH did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Tabak’s resignation.

Multiple sources told CBS News that Tabak was forced out, with one former colleague saying that Tabak “had been excluded from key meetings.”

But wait, there’s more. Michael Lauer, deputy director of the National Institutes of Health’s extramural research, stepped down soon after Tabak, on February 13. Days before Trump’s inauguration, Monica Bertagnolli resigned as NIH director and W. Kimryn Rathmell, stepped down as director of the National Cancer Institute.

After returning to the White House, Trump called off meetings and shut down communication out of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) until February 1, which includes NIH, the FDA, and the CDC. HHS has (for now) a $1.7 trillion budget and, as of February 13, an extremely controversial new director: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

The 15% cut at the NIH would hit universities and other researchers who use NIH funding to create new medicines and medical devices. Harvard Vice Provost for Research John H. Shaw wrote that NIH funding covered indirect costs of $135 million for its researchers, and that the new caps would limit funding to $31 million, according to the Harvard Crimson.

The president of the University of Nebraska System, Jeffrey P. Gold, also put out a statement noting that “this change isn’t a cost savings; it’s a cost transfer that either intentionally reduces the scale and scope of our research programs and/or shifts responsibility for [facilities and administrative] from NIH to Nebraska taxpayers.”

A group of 22 Democratic attorneys general filed a lawsuit on February 10 claiming these cuts were illegal. Soon after, a federal judge in Massachusetts halted the cuts by issuing a temporary restraining order and asking the states to submit reports to ensure the funding continues, according to the New York Times. A hearing is scheduled for February 21.

Correction Feb. 14, 2025: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated the percentage of indirect costs the NIH seeks to cut. The NIH intends to lower "the maximum indirect cost rate research institutions can charge the government to 15%," according to a statement released by the agency on Feb. 7. This article has been updated accordingly.