The Trump administration’s proposed 40% cut to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) budget has sent shockwaves through the scientific community, raising alarms about the future of biomedical research and opportunities for students and early-career scientists.

Allegheny College epidemiologist Dr. Becky Dawson, whose work relies on NIH funding, recently saw a multi-hospital study on surgical site infections abruptly halted.

“We were told last week to stop data collection immediately,” Dawson said, noting that the pause means lost training experiences for college and local high school students who were set to join the project.

While Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has told Congress that the cuts are focused on administrative costs and that no “working scientists” have been let go, researchers say the impact is already being felt.

More than 2,100 NIH grants, totaling nearly $9.5 billion, have been terminated, affecting projects nationwide.

The proposed budget would consolidate the NIH’s 27 institutes into just eight, with deep funding reductions even for those that remain.

Institutes focused on childhood diseases, mental health, and chronic illnesses face reorganization or elimination.

On campus, Dawson says students are questioning the viability of research careers.

“There’s just concern about where the jobs are going to be and is there going to be funding for me to get into a PhD program or to do research,” she said.

For many in the research community, the cuts represent not only lost scientific progress but also lost opportunities for the next generation of scientists.