A wave of scientific meetings and panels at federal science agencies were canceled Wednesday, at a time of heightened sensitivity about how the Trump administration will change the agencies’ policies and day-to-day operations.
Various National Institutes of Health meetings study sectionswhich reviews applications for scholarships and grants, was canceled without being rescheduled, according to notices from the agency reviewed by STAT. A Feb. 20-21 meeting of the National Vaccine Advisory Committee, a panel that advises Department of Health and Human Services leadership on vaccine policy, was also canceled. This also applied to a meeting of the Presidential Advisory Council on Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria, scheduled for January 28 and 29.
The extent of the cancellations was unclear. It was also unclear whether these were related to the Trump administration’s freeze on external communications until February 1.
“Peer review through study sections is required by law so that the NIH can disburse the majority of its $40 billion annual extramural budget,” said Norman E. Sharpless, former director of the National Cancer Institute, part of the NIH. “If study sections and advisory board meetings are postponed for more than a short period of time, it will likely lead to interruptions in grant funding, which is bad for U.S. biomedical research.”
An NIH spokesperson did not answer questions about the study section cancellations but provided a general statement. “HHS has paused mass communications and public appearances that are not directly related to emergencies or critical to maintaining health,” the spokesperson said. “This is a short pause so that the new team can establish a review and prioritization process. There are exceptions for announcements that HHS divisions determine are mission critical, but these will be made on a case-by-case basis.”
Any prolonged pause by NIH study departments could result in delays in funding for scientific labs awaiting approval of their work.
A new administration is expected to pause the activities of federal agencies to get their appointees in place. But the pause could lead to consequences down the road, said Carrie Wolinetz, chair of the health biosciences innovations practice at Lewis-Burke Associates and a former senior adviser at the NIH. “Anything that disrupts study sections for a period of time, from government shutdowns to major weather events, can cause backlogs and slow down the entire system, especially since study section members are often busy people who can be difficult to schedule. Virtual study components make it easier, but it can be disruptive,” she says.
“This is super stressful because of the uncertainty of not knowing how long these cancellations will be in effect. If study sections do not meet on time, it can delay grant distribution, impacting labs’ ability to pay their students, postdocs and staff. In some cases, if there were a funding gap, it could result in someone not being hired at all or having to be fired,” said Rebecca Pompano, a chemical and biomedical engineer at the University of Virginia, whose training for a The study portion on Wednesday was canceled 20 minutes before start time.
“Of [government] We all know it will eventually reopen, and that’s why it’s always seen as temporary,” Pompano said. “But this one is more stressful because it’s been talked about a lot [Robert F. Kennedy Jr.] on a comprehensive review of the NIH.”
Annika Barber, a molecular biologist at Rutgers University and member of a study section scheduled for Feb. 20-21, was told the section had not been canceled. “At least it seems that way for now [scientific review officer] thinks we’ll meet, and I was able to book my trip this afternoon through the NIH World Travel website and an Amtrak ticket was issued, so the NIH did pay for a train ticket, which also seems promising,” Barber said in an email -mail to STAT.
The communication pause can also delay the sharing of time-sensitive information.
For example, scientific updates in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report are also covered by the pause. Three new reports on outbreaks of H5N1 bird flu in dairy cows and poultry were due to be published this week; now it’s unclear when they will be released, a CDC official who spoke on condition of anonymity told STAT. One of the reports was the result of a study into undetected infections among veterinarians who work with cows.
STAT contacted the CDC to ask about the delay in publishing the MMWR articles, but received no response. STAT reached out to the Food and Drug Administration about the status of its advisory committees, which are critical in approving drugs and devices, but also received no response.
Helen Branswell and Matthew Herper contributed reporting.
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