The Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at UMass Chan Medical School rescinded dozens of provisional acceptance offers to PhD applicants the week of March 10 for this fall due to concerns over biomedical research funding stability, according to a March 14 statement shared with Becker’s.
Affected applicants are being offered priority consideration opportunities without the need to reapply should they be interested in joining Morningside’s PhD program in the future. Existing PhD candidates and applicants of the T.H. Chan School of Medicine and Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing are not affected.
“While this difficult decision is unfortunate and was not made lightly, UMass Chan is not alone in making such a decision,” the statement said. “Numerous peer universities in the commonwealth and across the country are reducing or rescinding offers of admission as one means of controlling spending during a highly uncertain time. Traditionally, PhD candidates do not pay tuition but, rather, earn a stipend that is funded by research grants.”
At Johns Hopkins University, the termination of more than $800 million in USAID funding has resulted in 1,975 job losses in 44 countries, 247 U.S. layoffs and 107 international and domestic furloughs. The affected programs include its school of medicine, affiliated nonprofit Jhpiego, and Bloomberg School of Public Health, a spokesperson for Johns Hopkins University said in a March 14 statement shared with Becker’s.
Johns Hopkins is the largest recipient of National Institute of Health funding, the spokesperson said.
“U.S. based employees are all being given at least 60 days of advance notice before the reductions or furloughs take effect, and we are providing comprehensive support with additional benefits, assistance, and resources to help employees navigate this transition and explore new opportunities,” the statement said. “For international employees, we will be complying with local employment laws.”
U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley issued a March 5 preliminary injunction blocking a proposed NIH policy that would limit reimbursements to 15% for indirect research costs. In February, Ms. Kelley issued the first temporary restraining order to the policy, and extended the block through a long-term preliminary injunction with the March 5 ruling.
