The National Institutes of Health (NIH) will resume important meetings and travel associated with the critical grant-review process amid an agency-wide communications freeze at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
While the agency is working its way back to normalcy, its operations are still not completely back to what they were before President Donald Trump took office. The advisory council and scientific review meetings associated with the NIH’s grant-making process, in which outside scientists provide a final grant review and strategic advice before the finalization of a new program, have continued but will not yet meet in open session.
When Trump took office, he initiated a freeze on external communications at HHS and all of its sub-agencies. Earlier this week, HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon said that ‘several types of external communications’ are no longer subject to the pause, and ‘all HHS divisions have been given clear guidance on how to seek approval for any other type of mass communication.’
NIH is currently taking things day-by-day to ensure they are meeting their obligations under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, which governs the operation of federal advisory committees and emphasizes public involvement through open meetings and reporting.
Last week, NIH director Matthew Memoli sent a letter to staff seeking to clarify the ongoing communications pause. According to Memoli, the freeze had been issued to ‘allow the new team to set up a process for review and prioritization,’ but noted that due to ‘confusion on the scope of the pause’ he wanted to provide additional guidance.
In addition to halting announcements, press releases, website and social media posts, new guidance, and new regulations, the freeze also halted public appearances and travel by agency officials, and prohibited new purchases or service requests related to agency work. The move caused anger and confusion among both HHS officials and those in the broader medical community, particularly due to the potential pause of critical health research.
In his memo to staff, Memoli clarified that any research or clinical trials initiated before Jan. 20 can keep going ‘so that this work can continue, and we do not lose our investment in these studies.’ Officials working on these studies may also purchase any ‘necessary supplies’ and conduct meetings related to such work. Although new research projects are still prohibited, NIH staff were told they could continue submitting papers to medical journals and can communicate with those journals about submitted work.
Travel and hiring for such work can continue as well, Memoli indicated, but his office must grant specific exemptions for new hires as Trump also initiated a freeze on the hiring of new federal civilian employees across all agencies during his first week in office. Routine travel planned for after Feb. 1 ‘does not need to be canceled at this time,’ Memoli added. Patients receiving treatment at NIH facilities can also continue to do so.
NIH can also submit documents to the Federal Register and send correspondence to public officials.
While the pause at HHS has caused a firestorm of concern and criticism, Dr. Ali Khan, a former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scientist who is now the dean of the University of Nebraska’s school of public health, told the Associated Press that such pauses are not unusual. Khan said concern is only warranted if the pause was aimed at ‘silencing the agencies around a political narrative.’