Science Policy Hub

Federal Grant Funding Updates

AAMC Data Briefs on NIH Funding and Grant Terminations 

The AAMC has been closely monitoring and analyzing the impact of National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant terminations and overall decreases in new awards and funds flow to U.S. institutions.

• Ongoing analyses are looking at the myriad of changes that occured during the fiscal year 2025 as well as continuing to monitor changes in the current environment
• The most recent analysis, published in Aug. 2025, details a loss of nearly $5 billion in NIH awards over the last several months, as compared to previous years. 
• Previous analyses published in May and June 2025 focus on the termination of thousands of NIH grants and the resulting impacts on NIH-funded clinical trials, as well as biomedical research training and career development programs.
• Information on grant terminations can be found from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) TAGGS database, or in the independent effort Grant Witness, which draws from HHS and other federal sources. 

Facilities & Administrative Costs

The AAMC is actively engaged in the ongoing discussion on federal reimbursement of institutional facilities and administrative (F&A) costs, also known as indirect costs. We encourage our community to participate in the work of the Joint Associations Group on Indirect Costs (JAG). 

NIH Funding Updates

• As of June 11, NIH has resumed posting notices of funding opportunities on the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts for the first time since January 22, 2025. Starting October 1, all funding  opportunities will only be available through Grants.gov.
• The pages NIH Grants and Funding Information Status and Implementation of New Initiatives and Policies describe changes to NIH grants and funding policies and processes under new priorities. These policy notices as well as revisions to existing funding announcements are available in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts under the "Other Notices" tab. 
• As of June 2025, NIH has begun forward funding certain research project grants (RPGs).

Learn more about forward funding

Federal Research-Related Litigation 

The AAMC is engaged in or closely following litigation on issues affecting federally funded biomedical research, including NIH grant terminations and indirect cost rates.

Access all Research-Related Litigation Updates

Policy Issues the AAMC is Monitoring 

• NIH on June 12 rescinded an update to the 2024 NIH Grants Policy Statement of a "new Civil Rights term and condition that modifies the current terms and conditions for all NIH grants, cooperative agreements, and other transaction (OT) awards." The HHS Grants Policy Statement and NSF General Grant Conditions, updated earlier this year with similar language, have not been revised following the publication of the NIH notice.
• Other significant changes to NIH grant policies and processes include disabling No-Cost Extension functionality in eRA Commons and changing award structures such that foreign subawards can no longer be nested under a parent grant. 
• The White House on May 5 released an Executive Order on the safety and security of biological research, which will pause all "dangerous gain of function research," as defined in Section 8 of the order. The executive order also pulls back the 2024 policies "United States Government Policy for Oversight of Dual Use Research of Concern and Pathogens with Enhanced Pandemic Potential" and "Framework for Nucleic Acid Synthesis Screening." Further information is available in a fact sheet and two implementation notices from the NIH (June 18) (May 7). 
• Institutions with active international research programs will likely be impacted by a final rule from the Department of Justice (DOJ) limiting access to Americans' "bulk sensitive personal data" and government-related data by "countries of concern." DOJ on April 11 issued a compliance guide, FAQs, and an implementation and enforcement policy for the final rule. The AAMC previously responded to both an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) and Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on this issue.

Forthcoming Implementation Deadlines  

• The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a final rule revising the regulations governing Public Health Service Policies on Research Misconduct, which must be implemented through new institutional policies and procedures by Jan. 1, 2026. For more information, visit the HHS Office of Research Integrity.

Federal Scientific Leadership

• HHS Secretary: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. 
• NIH Director: Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PhD 
  • NIH Leadership Page 
  • Directors of NIH Institutes and Centers 
  • Open NIH Position: Director, National Institute of General Medicine Sciences
  • Open NIH Leadership Position
  • NIH Deputy Director for Extramural Research: Jon Lorsch, PhD 
• FDA Commissioner: Martin Makary, MD, MPH
• Director, FDA Center for Drug Development and Evaluation: Richard Pazdur, MD
• CDC Acting Director: Jim O'Neil 
• NSF Director: Vacant
• OSTP Director: Michael Kratsios 
• ARPA-H: Alicia Jackson, PhD
• CMS Administrator: Mehmet Oz, MD 
• Surgeon General: Vacant (Nominee: Casey Means, MD)