Sweeping layoffs are set to hit federal health and science agencies, including at the National Institutes of Health, and former director Monica Bertagnolli called the situation at the NIH “devastating.”
“We’re going to lose the next generation, that is the most difficult loss. This just sends, sends a chill,” Bertagnolli told STAT in an interview Saturday on the sidelines of the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in Boston. “It’s hard work, to get an education and be a scientist. Some of the fellows trained for so many years, and it’s a mission that requires great, great dedication. We’re very worried that our brilliant next generation isn’t going to want to do that, if they’re not very, very clearly supported.”
The layoffs, which are expected to target more recent hires, are the latest development in a tumultuous month at the NIH. The agency was subject to a pause across the federal government on external communications, grant review panels were abruptly stopped, and the nature of the research it funds is being changed — as the agency eyes slashing a type of support known as indirect costs and combs through its grants for a list of taboo terms.
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