Dear colleagues,

I’m just back from San Francisco where I met some wonderful alumni and prospective students at one of our new BU2U events where our excellent Admission and Career and Practicum teams travel to introduce the work we do to interested persons across the country.

Below, please find updates and guidance on this week’s federal actions. As always, please feel free to reach out to me directly with any questions.

  • National Institutes of Health study sections and councils that approve research grants resumed meeting this week.  It is unclear if any grants were reviewed or approved at these shortened meetings.  So far in 2025, the NIH has awarded $2.8 billion less than the average amount of funding awarded over the same period for the previous five years. NIH continues to move to centralize grant reviewand other agency functions.
  • Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, called for Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to resign. The call for resignation is a first in the history of the APHA. Kennedy is criticized for his response to the widening Texas measles outbreak, for  the resignation of Peter Marks, who oversaw vaccine regulation as head of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, and for job cuts at the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and elsewhere at Health and Human Services.
  • Vast quantities of climate and environmental information have been removed from official websites. Scientists are trying keep it available.
  • NIH has an Extramural Research website – a useful page regarding implementation of the Administration’s initiatives, with updates on applications and reporting
  • HHS is regularly updating a list of terminated HHS grants on the Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS). The website is functional mostly, and a link to the list is here.
  • If you want to see for yourself which NIH study sections and advisory councils are being scheduled, you can view Federal Register updates from the NIH here:https://www.federalregister.gov/agencies/national-institutes-of-health 

BU Updates:

  • BU, Harvard, MIT, and Tufts sent our annual letter to Capitol Hill urging strong investments in research and students.
  • The Office of Research has published a detailed set of guidelines for managing early grant termination; accessing the guidance document requires a BU login. The link is also posted on the Office of Research 2025 Administration Transition Information & Resources.
  • The BU Federal Relations website has anexplainer about the FY2025 Continuing Resolution. It details the NIH and Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDRMP) budgets for the remainder of FY25.
  • BU Advancement (formerly DAR) has identified a limited source of funds that may soon be available at BU to support those with terminated awards. These funds will not be bridge funds but may be used to support critical needs such as short-term doctoral student support and preservation of data/resources. Current plans are to have the Office of Research coordinate the allocation of these funds which we believe could available to SPH-based persons. Specifics should be forthcoming.
  • Guidance from the University Office of Sponsored Programs remains unchanged. Any concerns by PIs about non-renewal of federal grant funding, stop work orders, or notices of funding “pauses” should be directed to Dean McClean. PIs should not take personnel actions in response to anticipated federal funding disruptions without prior consultation with and approval from Sponsored Programs, which Dean McClean will help facilitate.
  • All labor requests, travel, and external consultants on unrestricted funds (school money) and discretionary funds continue to fall under the budget controls and a request for approval is required. Please direct any questions to the Associate Dean for Administration and Finance, Dean Lazic at iralazic@bu.edu.
  • International students –There is a disturbing new pattern of visa revocations and ICE initiated SEVIS record termination for a very small number of BU students and recent graduates on OPT over the past week. See the ISSO newsand BU Today Campus Resource article for more details. As the circumstances of each vary on a case by case basis, students are urged to communicate directly with ISSO to explore potential avenues for reinstitution of their visa. We are committed to be maximally supportive of our international students who are impacted by SEVIS actions.

Thank you for remaining hard at work despite the ongoing uncertainties.

Michael Stein
Dean ad interim

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