Hundreds of National Institutes of Health employees have criticized what they call the politicization of their research and termination of their work while demanding that changes made at the agency that they see as drastic be rescinded, The Hill reported on Monday.
In a letter titled “The Bethesda Declaration” addressed to NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, more than 2,000 signers stated: “We dissent to administration policies that undermine the NIH mission, waste public resources, and harm the health of Americans and people across the globe.”
The signers of the letter cited Bhattacharya’s stated commitment to academic freedom that he made recently and insisted he get rid of the changes the Trump administration has implemented at NIH.
“Academic freedom should not be applied selectively based on political ideology. To achieve political aims, NIH has targeted multiple universities with indiscriminate grant terminations, payment freezes for ongoing research, and blanket holds on awards regardless of the quality, progress, or impact of the science,” they wrote.
The NIH staffers also slammed the canceling of nearly completed studies, stating that “ending a $5 million research study when it is 80% complete does not save $1 million, it wastes $4 million.”
They called on Bhattacharya to restore foreign collaborations with the global scientific community, return independent peer reviews, bring back fired NIH staff and reconsider the 15% cap on indirect study costs that the Trump administration enacted.
“Combined, these actions have resulted in an unprecedented reduction in NIH spending that does not reflect efficiency but rather a dramatic reduction in life-saving research,” they stated.
In response, Bhattacharya criticized the letter on X, stating that “the Bethesda Declaration has some fundamental misconceptions about the policy directions NIH has taken in recent months.”
Bhattacharya insisted that steps taken at NIH have been to “remove ideological influence from science” and declared that the agency hasn’t halted international scientific collaboration but is instead “ensuring accountability.”
“Claims that NIH is undermining peer review are misunderstood. We’re expanding access to publishing while strengthening transparency, rigor, and reproducibility in NIH-funded research,” he wrote, adding that “we are reviewing each termination case carefully and some individuals have already been reinstated. As NIH priorities evolve, so must our staffing to stay mission-focused and responsibly manage taxpayer dollars.”
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