On July 30, Brown reached an agreement with the federal government that ended the large-scale federal funding freeze levied on the University.
The agreement, which required the restoration of NIH grants within 30 days of the deal’s signing, did not restore terminated grants from other federal sources, wrote Vice President for Research Greg Hirth ScM’87 PhD’91 in an August email to The Herald. But the University has appealed all terminations of grants from other agencies, Hirth added, and Brown has been involved in several recent lawsuits over grant freezes.
The deal followed a June 16 district court decision, when a Massachusetts federal judge ruled in favor of several researchers and the American Public Health Association regarding the funding cuts. The judge argued that the termination of NIH grants was not only illegal, but also discriminatory on the basis of race, gender identity and sexual orientation.
Faculty began to receive notice of restored federal grants and research funds in the weeks following the June district court ruling and the University’s July agreement with the federal government. Yet despite the reinstated funds, several researchers have faced challenges with continuing research that has been paused for months on end.
Philip Chan, an associate professor of medicine at Warren Alpert and a professor of behavioral and social sciences at Brown’s School of Public Health, researches HIV prevention and LGBTQ+ health. In the spring, three of Chan’s NIH-funded grants were terminated.
In one study, Chan has been researching the effects of pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP — a medication used to prevent HIV transmission. The study is largely focused on Black and Hispanic men who have sex with other men. These demographics have a nearly 50% and 20% chance of contracting HIV in their lifetimes, respectively, said co-principal investigator Amy Nunn in an April interview with The Herald. Nunn is a professor of medicine at Warren Alpert and a professor of behavioral and social sciences at the SPH.
Chan and Nunn independently joined the April lawsuit filed by the APHA against the NIH funding cuts — the complaint that led to the June ruling. All of Chan’s grants were reinstated following the ruling in the APHA case, he said.
The U.S. Supreme Court later ruled on the APHA case in August, allowing the NIH to terminate the grants awarded to research projects focused on diversity, equity and inclusion, the LGBTQ+ community and COVID-19. But in the mixed ruling, the Supreme Court stated that federal district courts could hear plaintiffs’ challenges under the Administrative Procedure Act, leaving the door open for further legal complaints to restore grant funding.
But restarting research has not been without its obstacles. Chan and Nunn are conducting a multi-site study with clinical trials in Rhode Island, Mississippi and Washington D.C. But due to layoffs at multiple sites, data collection has been sparse so far.
“One clinic actually had to close their program,” Chan wrote in an email to The Herald. “It’s been a challenge to restart.”
Due to the uncertainties surrounding research funding throughout the spring and summer, some faculty like Nunn sought more research grants from other sources. Nunn said she applied for 19 grants between March and September, six of which have been approved.
“I was worried that I might lose my whole portfolio, so I’ve been in a grant-writing frenzy,” Nunn said.
For other Brown researchers, the grant pauses have wreaked havoc on project plans, creating irreversible damage and forcing study leaders to make substantial adaptations.
On Feb. 28, Ethan Moitra, an associate professor in psychiatry and human behavior at the Warren Alpert Medical School, received a termination letter for a $2.3 million grant he received from the NIH three years earlier, The Herald previously reported. The study aimed to determine the effects of counseling treatments on the mental health of LGBTQ+ individuals following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Moitra said he received notice of his study’s reinstatement from the NIH on July 9, separate from the University’s July 30 agreement with the Trump administration.
But despite the reinstatement of his grant, Moitra said the transition to resume his previously terminated study has been challenging, as the data collection process was halted during the freeze. Moitra’s research relied on patients attending check-ins every three months, but with the monthslong pause, approximately 30 of the 240 patients missed their scheduled check-ins and thus “timed out” of the study, he explained.
“It’s definitely decreasing the amount of data that we should have, and we’ve done our part in terms of recruitment,” Moitra added.
On Sept. 23, Moitra and his team received a notice of approval for a one-year no-cost grant extension from the National Institutes of Mental Health — a subsidiary of the NIH. The extension will allow the researchers to continue collecting data on approximately 20 more patients and finish the project as planned, he said.
“We collected a little bit of data in July and August, but we still have people who are coming due in September and even to early October,” Moitra added.
Chan has been approved for new NIH-funded grants in the past month, but noted challenges that arise when pursuing studies that focus on specific populations or refer to federally flagged words like “gender” or “equity.”
“Grants cannot focus on specific populations like African American/Black or Hispanic/Latino communities,” Chan wrote. “The NIH is asking for grants to include ‘all people.’”
Amid these difficulties, all three researchers expressed the importance of continuing to spotlight marginalized communities in their research.
“We have to remember and uphold our commitment to serving the most vulnerable members of our society, including the LGBTQ community, and I’m really committed to continuing to do that,” Nunn said.
“All of us — faculty, staff, students and the broader academic community — need to come together to advocate and fight for these issues,” Chan added.
Jonathan Kim is a senior staff writer covering Science and Research. He is a second-year student from Culver City, California planning to study Public Health or Health and Human Biology. In his free time, you can find him going for a run, working on the NYT crossword or following the Dodgers.
