Some Johns Hopkins, UMD research stopped after Trump cuts. Others are scrambling to resume
BALTIMORE - Some Maryland university research projects on the Trump administration's chopping block have been fully discontinued, while others are scrambling to resume after a pause in funding.
Johns Hopkins has lost more than $800 million in federal grant money. The University of Maryland lost tens of millions of dollars. But some cuts have been blocked by legal challenges, though litigation is ongoing. Researchers describe disappointment and uncertainty as they determine how to move forward.
Alternative funding has been secured for a clinical trial in Bangladesh aimed at managing life-threatening diarrheal diseases in children, which was previously halted because of U.S. Agency for International Development funding cuts. The work has yet to resume.
"It just takes a long time to rebuild the teams and get things in place again to start," said Judd Walson, chair of the Department of International Health at Johns Hopkins University, which partnered on the project. "The disruptions that are happening are really catastrophic."
Over the past several weeks, 17 NIH awards have been terminated or had an unclear status, including two training awards supporting doctoral-level researchers, Walson said.
"We're not getting a lot of communication, so it's a little bit hard to say exactly what the status of some of these awards are," he said.
The National Institutes of Health didn't respond to questions about funding cuts to Maryland research institutions. In a lawsuit challenging NIH research cuts, lawyers for the federal government wrote in a recent court filing that its terminations of grants for DEI-related studies were "sufficiently reasoned," and that the NIH has "broad discretion" to decide what grants to provide.
Johns Hopkins is a plaintiff in two lawsuits involving caps on reimbursement of indirect costs for research - one challenging the NIH and the other against the Department of Defense. The latter suit also lists the University of Maryland, College Park, as a plaintiff. Both schools have also filed a brief in support of a lawsuit filed by Harvard University against the Trump administration's funding cuts.
New grant terminations have been arriving "nearly every week," Johns Hopkins University said in a recent update published on its website. There's also been a nearly two-thirds decrease in new awards compared with last year, the university said.
Johns Hopkins atmosphere and ocean sciences researcher Darryn Waugh was disappointed upon receiving notice that his NASA grant to study air pollution in Baltimore was canceled by the Trump administration.
The termination came as a result of President Donald Trump's executive order, "Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing."
"It wasn't clear to me that this actually falls under this diversity, equity, inclusion," Waugh said. "It was research that I think we still wanted to do - to understand how the air pollution varies through the city - and the environmental justice was only actually a relatively small component of it."
Waugh was working through the second year of a three-year grant, totaling $1,465,950.
"We've got kind of a preliminary analysis," he said, regarding the research. "But to get anything conclusive, we would need more than one year of funding." Waugh said he intends to find ways of continuing the research without the NASA grant.
Daniel Mullins, at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, had a grant canceled for a "Health Equity Research Hub," which examined how to encourage greater participation in health-related research.
Mullins said the loss of the grant affected five positions, and the individuals will be removed from the university because of lack of funding. He added that the termination stated that the grant was DEI-related, which he disputes.
"I think under the DEI umbrella, a lot of times, the government will refer to it as just one racial ethnic group," he said. "We've worked in different geographies, in different racial and ethnic populations, but what's cool about what we do is it really does apply to all patients in all populations."
Mullins said his research group has additional funding from other agencies and is writing new proposals.
Walson said social determinants of health - involving factors like poverty and other "inequities" - are "foundational to our understanding of health."
"So the idea that we would not be able to pursue work that focuses on identifying and managing those particular issues, which are the underlying, core issues at the heart of health issues, is really challenging," Walson said.
The Trump administration's cuts have had an ieffect across the world. Walson said it's estimated the cuts will result in hundreds of thousands of deaths globally, and could eventually lead to millions of deaths over the next couple of years.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said it's "a lie" that people have died because of USAID cuts. During a congressional hearing in May, Rubio said the U.S. is the world's "largest humanitarian provider."
"I would argue: How many people die because China hasn't done it?" he said. "How many people have died because the U.K. has cut back on spending and so has other countries?"
Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Bloomberg
14 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
Bolton Says the US Mission in Iran Is Not Done Yet
John Bolton, former National Security Advisor under President Donald Trump, talks about the attack against Iran, how Iran could respond and the prospect of a wider war in the Middle East. He is on a special edition of "Balance of Power." (Source: Bloomberg)
Yahoo
33 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump blasts Thomas Massie on Truth Social, threatens to primary NKY congressman
Donald Trump and Republican Thomas Massie are continuing to butt heads as the president berated the Northern Kentucky congressman in a recent Truth Social post. Much like he did in May, Trump once again called Massie a "grandstander' in the June 22 post after the representative of Kentucky's 4th Congressional District has repeatedly opposed the administration's policies. "Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky is not MAGA, even though he likes to say he is. Actually, MAGA doesn't want him, doesn't know him, and doesn't respect him. He is a negative force who almost always Votes 'NO,' no matter how good something may be." Trump wrote in the Truth Social post. "MAGA should drop this pathetic LOSER, Tom Massie, like the plague!" The two share a complicated history, with Massie upsetting Trump the first time in 2024 after Massie initially endorsed candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis during his 2024 presidential bid, though he did endorse Trump just days before the election. Massie also publicly opposed Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill," on Instagram in May, stating that it will add $20 trillion of federal debt over 10 years. Trump's most recent social media reaction followed Massie's fiery response on X to his administration's announcement of the bombings in Iran, calling the act "unconstitutional". Massie went on to say: "When two countries are bombing each other daily in a hot war, and a third country joins the bombing, that's an act of war. I'm amazed at the mental gymnastics being undertaken by neocons in DC (and their social media bots) to say we aren't at war… so they can make war." Massie recently joined Ro Khanna, D-Calif., in introducing a resolution that would block U.S. involvement in the conflict between Iran and Israel without congressional approval. Massie's stance drew a rebuke from Trump himself, who wrote in the June 22 post that Massie is "weak, ineffective" and "disrespectful to our military." Trump again promised to back a Republican primary challenge to Massie. Previously, Massie told The Enquirer, "I think every time that I've made my case to the people, even if it's been contrary to what the president wanted at the time, it's eventually worked out for me. And so I'm going to stick with doing what I think is right and making my case to the people." Massie represents almost two dozen counties in and around Northern Kentucky. All of those counties voted for Trump in the past three presidential elections. But while other GOP politicians have lost reelection after losing Trump's support, Massie has dominated every election cycle since he took office in 2012. He was primaried by two candidates in 2024 and beat them with about 76% of the vote. Enquirer reporter Jolene Almendarez contributed to this story. This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Trump fires back at Rep. Thomas Massie in newest Truth Social post
Fox News
34 minutes ago
- Fox News
Extra: Deliveries, Taxis, War … And The Future Of Drones
The White House says President Trump's executive orders on drones, signed earlier this month, will 'unleash American drone dominance.' It directs the Federal Aviation Administration to expedite the development of new rules governing the operation and flight paths of unmanned aircraft systems. It will also loosen some regulations, create new ones, and attempt to integrate drones into air traffic more effectively. Michael Healander is the founder and CEO of the drone operations management company, Airspace Link. He was on the White House call about the executive orders. Healander joined FOX News Rundown host Chris Foster to discuss the new rules and how drones may be used in the future, including package deliveries and air taxis, also known as flying cars. We often must cut interviews short during the week, but we thought you might like to hear the full interview. Today on FOX News Rundown Extra, we will share our entire interview with Airspace Link CEO Michael Healander, allowing you to learn even more about the incredible future of drones. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit
