Trump Administration Agrees to Review NIH Grants Frozen Over Diversity-Policy Dispute

The Trump administration has reached an agreement with researchers and Democratic-led states to review National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant applications that were frozen, rejected, or withdrawn under a policy targeting projects linked to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The deal follows a Boston federal judge’s ruling that the NIH had unlawfully canceled hundreds of millions of dollars in research grants because of their perceived association with diversity programs, prompting a wide-ranging legal dispute.

Although the U.S. Supreme Court later redirected parts of the case to a specialized federal claims court, it left unresolved issues surrounding future funding decisions — paving the way for Monday’s agreement. Under the deal, the NIH will conduct new reviews of affected applications but is not obligated to fund any specific proposal. Researchers said the stalled projects address critical public-health areas including HIV prevention, Alzheimer’s disease, LGBTQ health, and sexual-violence research.

The agreement does not alter U.S. District Judge William Young’s earlier ruling blocking the NIH policy that halted diversity-related funding. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has appealed that decision and has defended its stance, arguing the terminated research had prioritized “ideological agendas” over scientific rigor. Plaintiffs, however, welcomed the renewed review process, calling the earlier freeze arbitrary and harmful to scientific progress.

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