Abstract
“Terminated: Impact of Rescinded Federal Grants on Public Health.”
Mackey Friedman, PhD, MPH1, Omar Martinez, JD, MPH, MS2, Lisa Bowleg3, Michelle Birkett4, Tamara Taggart, PhD, MPH5, Sharon Hillier, PhD6, Jason Flatt, PhD, MPH7, Cui Yang, PhD8, Devin English, PhD9 and Kar-Hai Chu, PhD10
(1)Rutgers University, Newark, NJ, (2)University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, (3)GW Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Washington, DC, (4)Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, (5)The George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, Washington, DC, (6)Magee-Women's Research Institute, Pittsburgh, PA, (7)University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV, (8)Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, (9)Newark, NJ, (10)University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
APHA 2025 Annual Meeting and Expo
As of March 30, 2025, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has terminated 695 grants. These include 232 grants on HIV/AIDS, 44 on cancer, 28 on Alzheimer’s disease, and 123 on COVID-19. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has terminated over 500 grants. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has terminated over 235 grants. In addition, at least 230 USAID contracts and grants, amounting to more than $7.5 billion, were terminated; this includes dozens of HIV/AIDS research projects, such as new HIV prevention methodologies in the midst of clinical trials. At APHA 2025, we propose a cross-cutting roundtable discussion to help document the impact of these terminated grants and contracts on the nation’s health.
This proposed roundtable discussion gathers experts across fields of HIV/AIDS, LGBTQ+ health, vaccine hesitancy research, health inequities, and public health advocacy who have taken on the responsibility to document and track these terminations. We propose to cover 5 key areas. First, we will document broad impact (including personal impact) of these terminations. Second, we will cover administrative and judiciary appeals processes and progress. Third, we will discuss the role of public health advocacy in tracking and confronting these terminations. Fourth, we will discuss effects of grants and contract terminations on communities, including adverse effects faced by study participants as a result of these terminations. Fifth, we will discuss key questions: Where are we now? Where are we going? This session will then open the floor to the audience for an interactive discussion of shared experiences and action steps.
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