At least $321.8M in federal medical research grants terminated in Ohio under Trump

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has canceled more than $321.8 million in funding for at least 32 scientific research and technology projects in Ohio.

This funding halts medical discoveries that could save lives. The lack of funding could lead to personnel cuts at colleges and possibly hospitals or local governments.

It also could reverberate through the economy, since many companies produce medicines and other products that were first discovered through government-funded research.

The money comes from some of the giants of research funding: the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and others now under the control of President Donald Trump.

Related story: Ohio agencies, universities lose millions in health research funding: What’s at stake?

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s health secretary, has slashed science funding since taking over the Department of Health and Human Services, prompting legal challenges.

The words “at least” are important here. Not all of the grant terminations have been reported yet by the government. Some grants have been frozen for 90 days, with their futures uncertain, and those are not reported in this list.

And some schools collaborate on research with other universities outside Ohio. This grouping doesn’t reflect that funding.

For instance, Case Western Reserve University participated in a tuberculosis research project with Harvard and the University of Pittsburgh. The $60 million, seven-year grant was technically awarded to Harvard, but Case expected to receive $6 million to $7 million, said Dr. Stephen Carpenter, a physician and researcher at Case. That funding has been frozen for 90 days.

Cleveland.com/The Plain Dealer found the 32 projects on an NIH website and a spreadsheet maintained by Harvard professors who are tracking grant cuts nationwide, through reviewing government databases and from professors who have self-reported terminated grants.

Here are more details on the canceled grants, and how the Ohio entities that have been cut responded.

At least $2.4 million in grant funding was canceled for Ohio State University.

OSU spokesman Chris Booker said the school won’t comment on specific research, but he noted that cancelations usually can be appealed.

“We are grateful for the research support we receive from our federal partners as these investments literally save lives right here in Ohio,” he said in an email. “Across the university, research continues, which benefits farmers, patients, military personnel, law enforcement, small businesses, and Ohioans in all 88 counties, but we are closely monitoring and managing federal notifications that have impacted a number of our faculty and laboratories.”

Research title: Client and clinician priorities for same-day PrEP and DoxyPEP awareness uptake and persistence in primary care.

Awarding agency: NIH

Total originally awarded: $42,104

Amount distributed: $21,801.91

Amount terminated: $20,302.09

Research title: Bisexual adolescents’ and young adults’ risk for depression and suicidal ideation: Developmental trajectories risk and protective factors and underlying mechanisms

Awarding agency: NIH

Total originally awarded: $815,881

Amount distributed: $0

Amount terminated: $815,881

Research title: The Influence of Developmental Assets on Intersectional Stigma and HIV Prevention Behaviors in Black MSM

Awarding agency: NIH

Total originally awarded: $450,125

Amount distributed: $302,025.44

Amount terminated: $148,099.56

Research title: Testing the effect of anti-tobacco message framing on polytobacco use in lesbian gay bisexual and transgender young adults

Awarding agency: NIH

Total originally awarded: $858,221

Amount distributed: $763,367.83

Amount terminated: $94,853.17

Research title: Testing a multistage model of risk factors for cannabis use utilizing a measurement burst design among sexual minority women, sexual minority gender diverse individuals, and heterosexual women

Awarding agency: NIH

Total originally awarded: $1,414,383

Amount distributed: $1,076,855.36

Amount terminated: $337,527.64

Research title: Improving Sexual Minority Health: Differences in Substance Use, Substance Use Treatment, and Associated Chronic Diseases among Rural versus Urban Populations

Awarding agency: NIH

Total originally awarded: $172,776

Amount distributed: $172,237.89

Amount terminated: $538.11

Research title: A Randomized Controlled Trial of an HPV Vaccine Intervention for Young Sexual Minority Men

Awarding agency: NIH

Total originally awarded: $3,106,120

Amount distributed: $2,751,971.27

Amount terminated: $354,148.73

Research title: COVID-19 Vaccine Coverage and General Vaccine Hesitancy in Rural Areas in the United States

Awarding agency: NIH

Total originally awarded: $196,875

Amount distributed: $103,570.98

Amount terminated: $93,304.02

Research title: Advancing Ethiopia‘s Capacity for Laboratory, Workforce Development, Surveillance, and Emergency Management to meet International Health Regulations requirements

Awarding agency: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Total originally awarded: $300,000

Amount distributed: $0

Amount terminated: $300,000

Research title: Center for Serological Testing to Improve Outcomes from Pandemic COVID-19 (STOP-COVID)

Awarding agency: NIH

Total originally awarded: $2,434,915

Amount distributed: $2,194,355.82

Amount terminated: $240,559.18 C

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Case Western Reserve University

Over $1.7 million in research funding was cut from Case.

A Case spokesperson said the school expect changes but that it’s too early to say what the full fallout will be.

Research title: Defining the neovaginal microbiome after gender affirming vaginoplasty

Awarding agency: NIH

Total originally awarded: $241,500

Amount distributed: $125,345.90

Amount terminated: $116,154.10

Research title: Youth Empowerment and Safety Intervention for Systems-involved Sexual and Gender Minority Youth at Risk of Suicide

Awarding agency: NIH

Total originally awarded: $279,366.

Amount distributed: $0

Amount terminated: $279,366

Research title: Pre-exposure Immunologic Health and Linkages to SARS-COV2 Serologic Responses, Endothelial Cell Resilience, and Cardiovascular Complications: Defining the mechanistic basis of high risk endotypes

Awarding agency: NIH

Total originally awarded: $3,389,732

Amount distributed: $2,427,118.09

Amount terminated: $962,613.91

Research title: APOL1 as a model to quantify and identify environmental modifiers of genetic associations in diverse populations

Awarding agency: National Human Genome Research Institute

Total originally awarded: $437,443

Amount distributed: $52,756.50

Amount terminated: $384,686.50

University of Cincinnati

The University of Cincinnati lost at least $2.2 million in grants. University spokeswoman Katie Pence didn’t reply to questions about effects of the lost funding, or whether the school is appealing the terminations.

Research title: Cerebral small vessel disease burden and racial disparity in vascular cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease and its related dementias

Awarding agency: NIH

Total originally awarded: $5,329,542

Amount distributed: $3,984,441.21

Amount terminated: $1,345,100.79

Research title: Young Sexual Minority Women’s Mental Health: Developmental Trajectories Mechanisms of Risk and Protective Factors

Awarding agency: NIH

Total originally awarded: $1,591,041

Amount distributed: $1,037,953.12

Amount terminated: $553,087.88

Research title: Improving the accessibility of transgender voice training with visual-acoustic biofeedback

Awarding agency: NIH

Total originally awarded: $545,025

Amount distributed: $229,631.17

Amount terminated: $315,393.83

Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus

The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital saw at least one grant being canceled. A hospital spokeswoman didn’t reply to questions.

Research title: The impact of Pubertal Suppression on Adolescent Neural and Mental Health Trajectories – Resubmission – 1

Awarding agency: NIH

Total originally awarded: $3,013,000

Amount distributed: $2,086,379.78

Amount terminated: $926,620.22

Ohio Department of Health

ODH lost at least $259.7 million, the most of any institution in the state.

During the pandemic, the department was working with information on the state’s 20-year-old Ohio Disease Reporting System, a database so old that it was not capable of many functions modern databases can perform.

READ MORE: Audit finds Ohio coronavirus data generally accurate, but handling of information inefficient

The CDC grant funding cut was supposed to pay for data modernization efforts, including upgrades to the Ohio Disease Reporting System, said Ken Gordon, the Department of Health’s press secretary.

Also affected are improvements for data systems for public health laboratory testing, and subgrants to local health departments to help them modernize data systems and better respond to infectious disease outbreaks, Gordon said.

“ODH is working with the CDC to get clarification and further guidance,” Gordon said. “We’re still assessing what impact this may have on program initiatives.”