Business · India Bureau
Trump moves to centralise control over US health research funding decisions
The US President has directed budget officials to draft an executive order establishing a board to oversee National Institutes of Health grant allocations. The move would represent a significant shift in how federal research funding decisions are made.
LSN India ·
US President Donald Trump has instructed budget chief Russ Vought to prepare an executive order that would create a new board tasked with determining which research grants receive funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), according to reports.
The proposed mechanism would introduce a centralized review process for NIH grant decisions, consolidating funding authority that has traditionally been distributed among the institute's various divisions and peer-review committees. The board's precise composition and operational parameters remain unclear, though the directive suggests Trump seeks greater executive oversight of the government's largest health research funding agency.
The NIH, which distributes billions in annual research funding to universities, medical centres, and research institutions across the United States, has long operated through decentralised grant-review processes involving panels of scientific experts. Any substantial change to this system could reshape how American biomedical research priorities are set and funded.
The move reflects broader efforts by the Trump administration to expand executive control over federal agencies and their budgetary decisions. Health researchers and academic institutions have not yet responded publicly to the proposal, though such centralization of funding decisions could have significant implications for the trajectory of US medical research.