Trump Administration Terminates 181 NCI Cancer Grants, Halting $640 Million in Research

The National Cancer Institute has effectively shut down new grant activity this fiscal year, with 181 funded research projects terminated since early 2025 representing nearly $641 million in total awards and an estimated $317 million in unspent funds left stranded, according to a study reported by CancerHealth.

The scale of the disruption is staggering. More than 74,000 people enrolled in medical studies and clinical trials have been affected by grant terminations initiated by the Trump administration, a separate study found. Many of the terminated grants supported research trainees and junior faculty, raising concerns that the cuts will hollow out the next generation of cancer scientists.

The human cost has a name. Nancy L. Keating, a physician and Harvard Medical School professor at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, lost two NIH-funded studies: an R01 and a P01 grant examining how integrated care affects cancer patients. A Department of Veterans Affairs contract aimed at improving cancer care access for veterans was also terminated.

Inside the NCI, the mood has turned bleak. "We use the word 'drone attack' now regularly," one NCI worker told KFF Health News, describing how terminations arrive without warning from above. Jennifer Guida, a researcher who studies accelerated aging in cancer survivors, left NCI after a decade. "I'm not going to put my name attached to that. I don't stand for that. It's not OK," she said of the administration's directives targeting DEI-related research. She described the broader effort as a "scrubbing of science."

The targeting of DEI-related research has been systematic. Starting in January, the Department of Health and Human Services issued an edict directing staff to report colleagues who worked on DEI issues. Grants containing DEI-related terms were flagged for review to assess alignment with administration priorities.

Courts have repeatedly pushed back. A federal judge ruled in June that some grant terminations were illegal, prompting at least a temporary restoration of funding for some studies. NIH official Michelle Bulls directed staff in late June to stop terminating grants following those rulings, though reviews of flagged grants continued. The Trump administration appealed the June ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court in July. On August 1, a federal district court issued a preliminary injunction blocking NIH and HHS from enforcing directives that would terminate or withhold funding solely because a research project addresses LGBTQ+ health, gender identity, DEI, or related subjects.

On July 29, the Office of Management and Budget sent a memo to NIH institute and center directors ordering an immediate halt to all research grants, R&D contracts, and training awards. After protests from members of Congress and patient advocacy groups, the administration reversed course the same evening and reinstated funding.

The attempted pause reflects a broader budget strategy. The White House has proposed cutting NCI's budget by nearly 40 percent, to $4.53 billion, as part of its fiscal year 2026 NIH spending plan. The administration is also seeking to cap indirect research costs at 15 percent, a move Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee say would strip billions from research institutions. House Appropriations ranking member Rosa DeLauro noted that Congress has included a provision in annual spending bills since 2018 explicitly prohibiting any administration from altering NIH's existing indirect-cost policies.

The legal battles are ongoing. The administration's Supreme Court appeal remains active, and court orders have restored only some of the terminated funding. With a proposed 40 percent budget cut awaiting congressional action and continued grant reviews inside NCI, the agency's research pipeline faces a period of sustained contraction unlike anything in its modern history.