Houston health orgs lost $58M in canceled, stalled NIH grants, new report shows
research cuts
Seven institutions in the Houston area have lost nearly $60 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that were aimed at funding health research.
The Science & Community Impacts Mapping Project identified 37 cancelled or frozen NIH grants worth $58.7 million that were awarded to seven Houston-area institutions. The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston suffered the biggest loss — five grants totaling nearly $44.8 million.
The Harvard University T.H. Chan School of Public Health reported in May that over the previous several months across the U.S., the federal government had terminated roughly 2,100 NIH research grants worth around $9.5 billion.
In August, the U.S. Supreme Court derailed researchers’ efforts to reinstate almost $2 billion in research grants issued by NIH, according to Nature.com.
“Make no mistake: This was a decision critical to the future of the nation, and the Supreme Court made the wrong choice. History will look upon these mass National Institutes of Health (NIH) research grant terminations with shame,” the American Association of Medical Colleges said in a statement. “The Court has turned a blind eye to this grievous attack on science and medicine, and we call upon Congress to take action to restore the rule of law at NIH.”
Texas health researchers rely heavily on NIH grants and contracts. During the federal government’s 2024 budget year, NIH awarded $1.9 billion in grants and contracts that directly supported 30,553 jobs and more than $6.1 billion in economic activity in Texas, according to the United for Medical Research coalition.
Here’s a rundown of the cancelled and frozen NIH grants in the Houston area.
- University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston: Five cancelled or frozen grants, totalling approximately $44.8 million in funding lost.
- Baylor College of Medicine: 17 grants cancelled or frozen, totalling approximately $8 million in funding lost
- University of Houston. Five cancelled or frozen grants, totalling approximately $3.7 million in funding lost
- University of Texas Health Science Center Houston: Five grants cancelled or frozen, totaling approximately $1.1 million in funding lost.
- University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Two grants cancelled or frozen, totalling $831,581 in funding
- Rice University. Two grants cancelled or frozen, totaling $254,645 in funding lost
- Prairie View A&M University: One grant cancelled or frozen, totalling $31,771 in funding lost