Questions swirl as vacancies on NIH advisory councils go unfilled

Megan Molteni reports on discoveries from the frontiers of genomic medicine, neuroscience, and reproductive tech. She joined STAT in 2021 after covering health and science at WIRED. You can reach Megan on Signal at mmolteni.13.

Since President Trump took office last January, only one new member has been added to the NIH advisory councils, key panels that make final recommendations on what research to fund at universities and medical centers, depleting their ranks as current members’ terms expired and a handful resigned. The majority of the 25 councils are now operating with less than half their full complement of members, according to STAT’s analysis of annual reports of council activity submitted at the end of December to a federal database.

The vacancies have left many of the panels without the range of expertise needed to make informed funding decisions. Some appear in danger of running afoul of federal laws governing council makeup and operations.

It’s not clear why the Trump administration hasn’t moved to fill the expanding vacancies. Likely contributing to the problem is the loss of several longtime staffers in the NIH committee management office, including its director, Claire Harris, who retired last year. But current and former NIH officials worry that the pause is part of a larger shake-up and increasing politicization of NIH decision-making.