Boston-based Harvard Medical School has been instructed by university administrators to cut research enterprise spending by at least 20% by the end of the fiscal year as part of a broader effort to rightsize expenses amid steep federal funding cuts.
During an annual State of the School address Sept. 17, the medical school’s dean, George Daley, MD, PhD, said it is on track to hit the 20% target.
“Given the dark clouds hanging over — not only Harvard’s federal grant dollars, but all of NIH — reducing our research spending and focusing on our most critical research is the responsible thing for us and other institutions to do,” Dr. Daley said during the address, according to The Harvard Crimson.
Four notes:
- Cambridge, Mass.-based Harvard University has faced significant disruptions to its research enterprise under President Donald Trump’s administration. In April, federal officials froze more than $2 billion in multiyear grants and a $60 million contract with the school. The move — which disrupted research on tuberculosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and radiation exposure — came after the university rejected a wide range of reforms the Trump administration had said Harvard must enact in order to continue receiving federal funds.
Harvard President Alan Garber, MD, PhD, said many of the administration’s demands centered around regulating “intellectual conditions” at the university. Among the requirements were “viewpoint diversity” audits of students, faculty and staff.
- A federal judge on Sept. 3 ruled that the government’s termination of federal grants to the university violated the First Amendment. In the ruling, Judge Allison Burroughs of the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts said the Trump administration “used antisemitism as a smokescreen for a targeted, ideologically motivated assault on this country’s premier universities.”
She wrote that while Harvard should have done more to address antisemitism, “there is, in reality, little connection between the research affected by the grant terminations and antisemitism.”
In response, Harvard has emphasized its commitments and actions aimed at strengthening campus culture, addressing antisemitism and fostering greater viewpoint diversity.
After the judge’s ruling, some researchers have received notices of grant reinstatements, though it remains unclear whether the funding will ultimately be restored. The Trump administration has said it plans to appeal the decision. - The medical school has seen at least 350 federal research grants terminated. About 30% of the school’s annual revenue and 75% of its research funding are supported by federal funds. In addition to grant disruptions, Harvard will see its endowment tax rise from 1.4% to 8% under a measure passed by Congress. The university is also preparing for a reduction in reimbursement for indirect research costs. In February, the National Institutes of Health said it plans to impose a 15% cap on reimbursements for administrative costs to support medical research projects. In past years, Harvard’s average reimbursement rate for indirect costs was 69%.
- During his address, Dr. Daley said the medical school has put a stopgap measure in place that draws on emergency funding from the university and lab rainy day funds from the medical school to maintain critical functions. The plan will enable the medical school to continue an average of 74% of research activity traditionally supported by federal funds through the upcoming fiscal year, according to the Crimson. The stopgap measure will also allow the school to support students in the MD-PhD program.
“We have the responsibility, especially under these new circumstances, to right-size our research, education and administrative enterprise so that our expenses do not continue to outpace our revenues,” Dr. Daley said. “We must plan for a future where federal sponsorship of research will be leaner.”
