Staff members at the United States’ leading infectious-disease research institute have been instructed to remove the words “biodefense” and “pandemic preparedness” from the institute’s web pages, according to the e-mail. Nature Have received.
The directive comes amid sweeping changes at the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), one of the 27 institutes and centers of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). NIAID is expected to prioritize two topics in an overhaul of its funded research projects, according to four employees who spoke to NIAID. Nature On condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the press.
NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya The restructuring was explained at an event with other top agency officials on January 30. “This is a complete change for (NIAID) away from this old model” that has historically prioritized research on HIV, biodefense, and pandemic preparedness, he said. He said the institute will focus more on basic immunology and other infectious diseases currently affecting people in the United States, rather than predicting future diseases.
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Approximately one-third of NIAID’s US$6.6 billion budget currently funds projects related to emerging infectious diseases and biodefense. Research studies pathogens of concern and monitors their spread, and develops medical measures against the dangers of radiation exposure, chemicals, and infectious diseases.
Naheed Bhadelia, director of the Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases at Boston University in Massachusetts, says the decision not to prioritize these areas will leave people in the United States more vulnerable to pathogens that are constantly evolving in wildlife around the world and spreading into human populations, sometimes leading to outbreaks. “Just because we say we’ll stop caring about these issues doesn’t make the issues go away – it just makes us less prepared,” she says.
An NIH spokesperson, The world’s largest public funder of biomedical science.“NIAID’s new vision sharpens its focus on the interconnected pillars of infectious diseases and immunology, expanding research opportunities that address the most pressing challenges to the health of Americans today,” says NIAID, based in Bethesda, Maryland. The spokesperson declined to answer NatureQuestions about the agency’s specific plans to restructure the institution.
political heat
NIAID is currently led by Acting Director Jeffrey Taubenberger, after its previous director, infectious disease physician Gene Marrazzo, was removed from office by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump after less than two years in office. His predecessor, Anthony Fauci, held the position for 38 years.
Fauci and the institute Has been investigated by Trump and other Republican politicians As a result of the public-health measures used during the COVID-19 pandemic – such as lockdowns and school closures – he says people lost trust in the country’s health agencies. (During the pandemic, Fauci offered recommendations on how to stop the spread of the virus, but neither Fauci nor NIAID set policy for public-health measures.)
To restore confidence, Bhattacharya, John Powers, senior advisor to Taubenberger and Taubenberger, outlined a “new vision” for the institute in a commentary published in. naturopathy On 16 January.
“NIAID’s work clearly neither stopped the pandemic nor prevented Americans from experiencing the highest levels of all-cause excess mortality in the developed world during that period,” they wrote. “Given the increasing prevalence of allergic and autoimmune disorders in the population over the past few decades, and the burden of common infections, NIAID should focus research on these conditions with greater urgency.”
new direction
According to NIAID staff, directing agency staff members to rebrand the institute’s language is a first step toward implementing this new vision. He says NIH principal deputy director Matthew Memoli has ordered more changes in the coming weeks and months, including a review of the portfolio of grants for biodefense and pandemic preparedness.
If funds are allocated to other subjects, “it’s a big deal”, says Bhadelia. Few other U.S. agencies have the budget or infrastructure to fund basic research on these topics, says Gigi Gronwall, a biosecurity expert at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland.
Taubenberger hinted during a January 30 event that reallocation was coming. “We need to deal better with (what we face today) to better prepare for the future,” he said. “Maybe a better way to look at it is ‘preparing people.’ One way to prepare people is to be healthy, eat better and exercise, so you’re less likely to get sick or have a bad outcome,” Powers said.
This prioritization is important, says Bhadelia, but “the new vision is notable not for what is included – but rather for what is excluded. It paints an almost ‘one or the other’ picture.” In fact, these things interact with each other. For example, people with chronic conditions are at greater risk during the pandemic, she says.
Grönvall says this approach is “full of ego”. “We know there are groups of viruses that are more likely to cause disease, epidemics and pandemics, so it makes sense to study them,” she says. For example, Bhadelia says, advance basic research funded by NIAID helped make it possible to develop COVID-19 vaccines in record time, which “allowed us to reduce the death rate“From the pandemic.
The reorganization is also expected to target the NIAID division focused on HIV/AIDS research, which oversees a $1.5 billion portfolio of projects developing therapeutics and vaccines against the virus. An NIAID employee said the division’s 33 branches would be consolidated. Nature. But it’s not clear whether that will affect the total number of projects or the amount of money awarded by the division, the staffer says.
About 20% of NIH’s 2024 workforce of 21,000 have been fired or voluntarily left their jobs since Trump took office last January. An NIH spokeswoman declined to say whether there would be further layoffs of NIAID staff members as part of the restructuring. “Everyone is worried about what will happen next,” says an employee of the institute.
This article is reproduced with permission and was first published On February 13, 2026.
