Sep 16, 2026
The Trump administration plans to reclassify top NIH positions under Schedule F, making federal workers easier to fire and more politicized. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is spearheading the move.
The National Institutes of Health continues to face a significant leadership gap, with 15 of its 27 institutes currently being led by acting directors rather than permanent appointees, months into the administration.
NYU Langone Health has been awarded a nearly $70 million, seven-year renewal grant from the National Institutes of Health to fund its Clinical and Translational Science Institute, supporting efforts to accelerate medical research discoveries.
A new study found that fewer than half of papers published by NIH-funded researchers analyze or report their data by sex, despite a 2016 NIH policy requiring scientists to consider sex as a biological variable. The gap persists a decade after the policy was implemented.
The CDC delayed publishing a study scheduled for March 19 that found Covid vaccines reduced urgent care and emergency visits by 50 percent and hospitalizations by 55 percent among healthy adults in 2025-2026. Acting CDC Director Jay Bhattacharya halted the report over methodological concerns despite it passing the agency's scientific review process and using the same observational methods the CDC has long employed for respiratory virus vaccines. The delay occurs under HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who formerly chaired anti-vaccine group Children's Health Defense, called Covid shots the deadliest vaccine ever made, and directed the CDC to drop vaccine recommendations for children and healthy pregnant women. Public confidence has eroded, with only 41 percent of Americans believing Covid vaccine benefits outweigh risks according to a September 2025 YouGov survey.