ROCHESTER, Minn. — Some Minnesota researchers’ grants from the National Institutes of Health were abruptly canceled last week. “NIH notified us via an email that basically said, ‘This project no longer reflects the priorities of NIH, and so funding is terminated immediately,'” said Michael Bronstein, an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. Bronstein’s study on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among people with severe mental illness is one of at least 209 projects that had their NIH awards terminated since late February, via a list released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System. The bulk of the terminated grants on the TAGGS list had to do with vaccine hesitancy, HIV, Black or Latino communities, and/or sex, gender and LGBTQ+ identities. Nearly half of the terminated grants were connected to Columbia University in New York City. On the social media platform X, NIH said those cuts follow “directives from the Trump Administration’s Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism.” Columbia is under fire for its handling of pro-Palestinian campus protests during the Israel-Hamas war, and the Trump administration has pulled $400 million in federal money and threatened billions more if it does not comply with its demands. The Minnesota terminations affect three projects at the University of Minnesota, including Bronstein’s, and two projects at the HealthPartners Institute, which is the research and education arm of the Bloomington-based health care provider and insurer. The list did not include any cuts to NIH funding related to Mayo Clinic research. In addition to Bronstein’s study, the canceled Minnesota grants focused on the COVID-19 vaccine and lactation, HPV vaccine promotion by dental providers, and disparities in parenting stress and well-being during the pandemic across gender, sexual identity, race and ethnicity. Bronstein — a psychologist — and his team were one year into their four-year study, which he said was inspired by Minnesota’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout in 2021, when certain vulnerable groups, such as the elderly, were prioritized for vaccine distribution. The vulnerable groups list did not include those with severe mental illness. “We already knew that people with severe mental illness are about three times more likely to die from vaccine-preventable diseases like influenza or COVID-19,” Bronstein said. “So, I wanted to do something about that.” Bronstein, two research assistants and a team of graduate students recruited participants into their study to see if different factors, such as prior experiences with the mental health care system, influenced people’s willingness to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. His lab received $187,261 in 2024, per the project’s NIH page. But on March 10, NIH canceled the award. “This is already after investment of taxpayer money,” Bronstein said, “already after investment of a significant amount of time on behalf of my staff and myself, and time for our participants, who trusted us to talk about their mental health experiences.” Now, Bronstein and his team are in the process of applying for new funding to support this project — and to keep their staff and students employed. “That’s been quite a scramble,” he said. “And then just trying to reassure my employees that, ‘Hey, we’re going to do everything we can to ensure the longevity of this group and to ensure that this research still continues.’ ” In addition to the NIH email’s reasoning that Bronstein’s project no longer reflected the agency’s priorities, Bronstein said it also claimed the project would not “benefit the American people or their well-being,” which Bronstein said is “quite disrespectful of people who will and have lost loved ones to vaccine-preventable diseases.” “(That) part is blatantly and factually incorrect and directly contradicts what our expert reviewers said about the project,” he said. An appeals process exists for terminated NIH grants, Bronstein said, but he expects that process to be difficult, as “they’ve decided to de-prioritize this work and their initial email indicates that they don’t actually care about the facts related to the work.” In a statement, HealthPartners told the Rochester Post Bulletin it is not participating in interviews on this topic at this time. The Post Bulletin reached out to the University of Minnesota and the NIH but did not receive responses. Related Articles Health | Trump’s call to dismantle Education Department shows Republican rightward lurch and his grip on GOP Health | Hegseth says he’ll meet with Musk at the Pentagon to discuss ‘efficiencies’ Health | Other voices: Vaccines save lives, nutty ideas put Americans at risk Health | What’s happening with the Institute of Museum and Library Services after Trump’s executive order Health | Judge calls Trump administration’s latest response on deportation flights ‘woefully insufficient’ ...read more read less