⚡️ NIMITZ HEALTH NEWS FLASH ⚡️ 

“Modernizing the National Institutes of Health: Faster Discoveries, More Cures”

Senate HELP Committee

February 3rd, 2026 (recording linked here)

WITNESS

• Hon. Jayanta Bhattacharya, M.D., Ph.D.: Director, National Institutes of Health

QUICK SUMMARY

• “383 trials” vs “~a dozen” was the signature dispute, with NIH arguing most were renegotiated and restarted while members cited broad disruption numbers and patient impact.

• Vaccines were the trust flashpoint, spanning autism, measles messaging, and backlash to a narrowed childhood schedule amid outbreak risk.

• Gain-of-function and China oversight were framed as the credibility test, with NIH claiming a hard stop on funding and a shift to risk-based guardrails, while retrospective accounting remained incomplete.

• NIH capacity concerns kept surfacing, including staffing losses, review/award backlogs, and widespread institute leadership vacancies.

PARTY MESSAGING

🐘 Republicans

• Depoliticize NIH, tighten high-risk research oversight, and fund what measurably improves health.

• Broaden access and competition beyond coastal institutions.

🫏 Democrats

• Stop destabilizing research—disruptions and leadership churn were harming patients and the pipeline.

• Keep vaccine policy evidence-led and anchored in established expert processes.

MEMBER OPENING STATEMENTS

• Chair Cassidy (R-LA) emphasized the National Institutes of Health’s central role in funding biomedical research and driving lifesaving medical advances. He drew on his experience as a physician to underscore both the successes of NIH-supported innovation and the human cost when treatments did not exist. He outlined bipartisan legislative history and argued that Congress was again at a moment to modernize the NIH, including improving grant review, better integrating intramural and extramural research, and using AI to strengthen scientific discovery. He also raised serious concerns about recent grant cancellations, reduced transparency, and the potential erosion of trust in federally funded research, while expressing a desire to work collaboratively to strengthen the NIH.

• Ranking Member Sanders (I-VT) challenged claims by President Trump that his administration had strengthened science, improved health outcomes, and lowered prescription drug prices. He argued that major Medicaid cuts and the termination or freezing of hundreds of NIH grants and clinical trials had harmed patients and undermined scientific progress, including in cancer and chronic disease research. He asserted that prescription drug prices had continued to rise despite public investment through the NIH and highlighted stark price disparities between the United States and other countries. He concluded by calling for concrete action to cut drug prices dramatically and urged support for legislation tying U.S. prices to those paid abroad.

WITNESS OPENING STATEMENTS

• Dr. Bhattacharya described his vision for modernizing the NIH to address chronic disease and declining life expectancy in the United States. He highlighted past NIH successes, including recent gene therapies for sickle cell disease, while arguing that structural reform was necessary to improve transparency, rigor, and public trust. He outlined steps already underway, such as centralizing peer review, strengthening portfolio analysis, and aligning funding decisions with strategic public health priorities. He emphasized accountability, support for young scientists, and a focus on research outcomes that measurably improved population health, while affirming the importance of congressional partnership.

QUESTION AND ANSWER SUMMARY

• Sen. Marshall (R-KS) questioned about gain-of-function research, arguing it posed a serious national security threat and asserting it played a role in COVID-19’s origins. Dr. Bhattacharya said NIH had ended funding for dangerous gain-of-function research and was developing a risk-based oversight framework with the White House to prevent future federal support.

  Sen. Marshall also asked about long COVID, and Dr. Bhattacharya said NIH had shifted funding toward evaluating real-world treatments and rigorous clinical studies, directing patients to the NIH RECOVER Initiative.

  The exchange concluded with antimicrobial resistance, where Dr. Bhattacharya described a patient-centered research strategy rather than a lab-only focus.

• Ranking Member Sanders (I-VT) pressed on vaccine safety, demanding a clear statement on whether vaccines caused autism. Dr. Bhattacharya said he did not believe vaccines caused autism and emphasized vaccination as essential to controlling measles, while noting broader public mistrust in medicine.

  Ranking Member Sanders then challenged claims that drug prices were falling sharply and asked about legislation tying U.S. prices to those paid abroad. Dr. Bhattacharya responded that NIH’s role was to lower prices through research and innovation and said he could not take positions on legislation but was willing to work to reduce costs.

• Sen. Tuberville (R-AL) focused on rebuilding trust in health care and asked whether immediate public access to NIH-funded research would help. Dr. Bhattacharya agreed and said NIH had ended publication embargoes.

  Sen. Tuberville praised NIH’s decision to end fetal tissue research and asked about alternatives, and Dr. Bhattacharya said newer technologies made such research largely unnecessary.

  Sen. Tuberville also raised concerns about funding concentration and overseas gain-of-function research, and Dr. Bhattacharya said NIH funding was overly concentrated and confirmed U.S. funds would no longer support dangerous gain-of-function research abroad.

• Sen. Murray (D-WA) criticized NIH grant and clinical trial terminations, emphasizing harm to patients and seeking assurances such disruptions would not continue. Dr. Bhattacharya said NIH worked to preserve patient care and reduced the number of terminations but did not guarantee future grants would not be canceled, instead pledging to focus on health outcomes.

  Sen. Murray also warned that disbanded advisory councils threatened NIH’s ability to fund research, and Dr. Bhattacharya said he was moving quickly to reconstitute them.

  Sen. Murray challenged NIH’s fetal tissue research ban as politically driven and harmful, and Dr. Bhattacharya said projects were being redirected to alternatives and committed to providing a list of affected studies.

• Sen. Moody (R-FL) argued NIH had drifted toward political agendas under the prior administration, citing DEI-driven grant requirements and research he viewed as disconnected from improving life expectancy, and he criticized COVID-era policies as coercive and hostile to dissenting scientists. Dr. Bhattacharya replied that he had judged NIH performance by measurable improvements in Americans’ health and life expectancy and said he had directed institute leaders to depoliticize portfolios and refocus funding on outcomes tied to better treatments and cures.

• Sen. Hassan (D-NH) sought a commitment to fund research that expanded access to medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder as part of the White House recovery initiative, and Dr. Bhattacharya agreed to support outcome-improving research and work with her.

  Sen. Hassan then pressed him on cancer research “disruptions,” asking whether NIH had studied patient harms from interrupted trials and funding. Dr. Bhattacharya denied overall funding cuts, said continuity of care was required, and did not cite a specific impact analysis.

  Sen. Hassan also challenged appointments of vaccine skeptics to a federal autism committee and pressed whether vaccines caused autism. Dr. Bhattacharya said he had not seen evidence linking any vaccine to autism, emphasized vaccine-by-vaccine evaluation, and referenced NIH efforts studying genetic and environmental drivers.

  Sen. Hassan warned that revisiting debunked vaccine theories undermined public health and urged clearer reassurance to families.

• Sen. Banks (R-IN) highlighted the steep rise in autism diagnoses, praised expanded autism research efforts, and then focused on geographic concentration of NIH funding, contrasting Indiana’s receipts with coastal states despite major research universities. Dr. Bhattacharya described a “catch-22” where facility resources attracted grants and grants reinforced facility advantages, and he proposed working with Congress to delink facility support from project grants and broaden funding via targeted programs and geographic diversity in selections.

• Sen. Kaine (D-VA) emphasized long COVID, citing personal experience and criticizing earlier administrative actions that he said signaled reduced commitment, then requested NIH engagement with his staff. Dr. Bhattacharya agreed.

  Sen. Kaine also raised workforce reductions and grantee complaints about peer review delays, award backlogs, heavier administrative burdens, disrupted programs, weak communication, and rapid policy shifts. Dr. Bhattacharya said NIH cleared the review backlog by fiscal year end despite the October shutdown, credited staff and reviewers, and said NIH was working to fill personnel gaps and streamline processes to reduce burden going forward.

• Sen. Collins (R-ME) warned that proposed NIH budget cuts and widespread grant terminations risked undermining U.S. global leadership in biomedical research and discouraging young scientists, particularly at smaller institutions facing disadvantages in peer review.

  Sen. Collins asked whether NIH’s unified funding strategy would better support early-career researchers and prevent talent loss to Europe and China. Dr. Bhattacharya said supporting early-career scientists was a scientific and national security priority, acknowledged that first major grants now came much later in careers than in the past, and said NIH was committed to providing earlier training and funding opportunities while emphasizing that the U.S. remained the best place globally to pursue biomedical research.

  Sen. Collins also raised concerns that eliminating DEI criteria could worsen neglect of women’s health and health disparities. Dr. Bhattacharya responded that NIH remained committed to improving women’s and minority health but framed success around improving health outcomes for all Americans rather than diversity metrics.

• Sen. Hickenlooper (D-CO) questioned the administration’s cancellation of BARDA mRNA projects, warning that cutting $500 million in mRNA research threatened cancer and vaccine innovation and discouraged young scientists mid-training. Dr. Bhattacharya said NIH had not halted mRNA research, including cancer vaccine work, and distinguished NIH research priorities from BARDA contracting decisions, arguing that public trust should guide downstream public health investments.

  Sen. Hickenlooper then highlighted the INCLUDE Project on Down syndrome and Alzheimer’s, asking how it could serve as a model for cross-institute collaboration. Dr. Bhattacharya praised the project as an example of NIH-wide coordination and said he was working to break down silos across institutes for similar efforts, including long COVID.

• Sen. Murkowski (R-AK) emphasized the importance of retaining early-career scientists and ensuring NIH modernization addressed workforce stability, while cautioning that removing diversity frameworks should not obscure severe health disparities affecting Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian populations. Sen. Murkowski stressed NIH’s federal trust responsibility to tribal nations and asked how research could better address these disparities. Dr. Bhattacharya said he recognized the severe health burdens in tribal communities and emphasized community-driven research models that built trust, shared control over research questions, and respected ownership of biospecimens.

  Sen. Murkowski also raised concern about prolonged interim leadership across many NIH institutes. Dr. Bhattacharya said he was moving quickly but deliberately to appoint permanent directors, prioritizing scientific excellence and input while advancing multiple nominations.

• Sen. Blunt Rochester (D-DE) questioned the process and implications of a sweeping change to the childhood vaccine schedule, which reduced routine recommendations from 17 diseases to 11 without the usual ACIP process. She pressed on whether the change would reduce vaccination rates, asked for the data supporting the decision, and raised concerns about increased risk of preventable diseases and the applicability of European vaccine models to the U.S. Dr. Bhattacharya argued the change would increase vaccination by rebuilding public trust, said supporting analysis existed and would be shared, and emphasized CDC monitoring of outcomes.

  Sen. Blunt Rochester warned that comparisons to countries like Denmark overlooked major differences in population size, health systems, and access to care and could undermine public confidence.

• Chair Cassidy (R-LA) challenged the Denmark comparison for U.S. vaccine policy, arguing schedules must reflect wide disparities in access and behavior across American communities, especially for rural and low-income patients. He warned that reducing routine vaccination could increase rare-but-severe diseases and further undermine trust, and he pressed on whether mixed messaging would backfire. Dr. Bhattacharya agreed trust had to be rebuilt but argued that repeating prior approaches would not restore confidence, emphasizing openness and trust-building as the rationale.

  Chair Cassidy then shifted to modernization, asking how NIH intramural resources could better serve researchers nationwide. Dr. Bhattacharya described expanding intramural–extramural collaboration and cited examples like Alzheimer’s resources and NCATS drug repurposing.

• Sen. Alsobrooks (D-MD) accused NIH and Secretary Kennedy of politicizing science and delaying or canceling trials, highlighting Alzheimer’s and dementia studies she said were stalled for months. Dr. Bhattacharya said most were renegotiated rather than terminated, claimed only about a dozen were truly ended, and argued changes removed political add-ons while preserving core science.

  Sen. Alsobrooks disputed his numbers, noted some restorations occurred after lawsuits, and said patients and institutions were being harmed by delays and terminations.

• Sen. Hawley (R-MO) pressed for accountability and transparency about NIH-linked funding to Wuhan and other China labs, arguing a full retrospective review was necessary to restore trust after prior denials. Dr. Bhattacharya said NIH had focused on preventing future dangerous gain-of-function work, noted pausing dozens of potentially risky grants, and said a broader review was underway but not complete, while agreeing transparency mattered and committing to work with Congress.

  Sen. Hawley then raised children’s health and asked whether NIH was studying social media and AI-driven harms, including chatbot-related self-harm. Dr. Bhattacharya said relevant work existed and pledged stronger focus.

• Sen. Baldwin (D-WI) criticized an OMB-driven shift toward multi-year grant funding, arguing it reduced awards and demanded the impact. She stated NIH funded about 2,000 fewer grants as a result. She also challenged the increase in political appointees and raised concerns about widespread institute director vacancies.

  Sen. Baldwin asked whether NIH ended the practice of including external scientists on director search committees. Dr. Bhattacharya said the process was made faster and internally led while consulting externals informally.

• Sen. Markey (D-MA) challenged NIH claims about trial disruptions, citing Massachusetts evidence and a JAMA-backed analysis that hundreds of trials lost funding and tens of thousands of participants were affected. Dr. Bhattacharya called the JAMA figure inaccurate, arguing most trials were renegotiated and restarted and that only about a dozen were actually terminated, often due to “political” components.

  Sen. Markey then argued NIH actions were driving trainees and junior scientists out of research, citing layoffs and canceled fellowships. Dr. Bhattacharya reiterated NIH had spent its full appropriation and insisted the U.S. remained the best place to do biomedical research.