Women and early-career researchers faced a disproportionate share of National Institutes of Health grant terminations in 2025, a pattern that could pose long-term consequences for the biomedical workforce, according to a March 23 study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The NIH terminated 2,291 active research grants in 2025, pulling $2.45 billion in funding from thousands of projects. The study, led by researchers at the University of North Dakota and Northwestern University, examined how those cancellations broke down across gender and career stage.
Across all terminated grants, women (57.9%) had a larger share of active projects canceled than men (48.2%), meaning they had more ongoing research abruptly halted. The disparity was particularly pronounced among early-career investigators. Among assistant professors, 59.8% of terminated projects were led by women.
Overall, women also received smaller award amounts than men. The median award size was $940,000 for women, compared with $1.4 million for men.
The $2.45 billion in canceled grants equates to about $6.29 billion in unrealized economic output, based on the NIH’s multiplier of $2.56 per $1 invested, the researchers noted.
“Because women led a larger share of training and early-career grants, the terminations disproportionately disrupted stages of the biomedical pipeline where women are most represented, intensifying risks to research continuity and workforce development,” the researchers wrote. “Overall, the 2025 terminations unevenly affected women investigators and key career stages, magnifying long-term consequences for the U.S. biomedical workforce.”
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