Leaders at Dartmouth College and Dartmouth Health say planned cuts to federal research grants could undermine advances in cancer treatment, Alzheimer’s research, rural health and other areas of medicine.
The Trump administration has moved to cut billions of dollars in grant funding from the National Institutes of Health by capping so-called indirect costs. That money helps research institutions pay for administrative staff, lab upkeep, utilities and more.
A federal judge has paused Trump’s proposed cuts for now. But senior research officials at the two Upper Valley-based institutions say that could have a devastating impact on medical research if they take effect.
“The result is going to be less science, fewer breakthrough therapies and less innovations,” Dean Madden, vice provost for research at Dartmouth College, said in a call with reporters Friday.
Dartmouth College was awarded $97 million in NIH funding in fiscal year 2024, according to spokesperson Jana Barnello. She said $24 million of that could be at risk.
Madden noted the college is one of the few major U.S. research institutions located in a rural area and prioritizing rural health. It and Dartmouth Health are also major employers in the Upper Valley, with over 1,000 jobs at least partly dependent on federal grants, officials said.
He said advances in immunotherapy-based cancer treatment, cystic fibrosis research and digital tools for addressing substance use disorders are among the results of NIH-funded research in the region.
“If the federal government cuts its investment, we will have to scale back on research, and cutting-edge science will be cut short,” Madden said. “We don't know what discoveries won't be made as a result.”
Grants from the National Institutes of Health cover direct research expenses – like equipment and researchers’ salaries — along with some funding for facilities costs and administrative overhead. The rate for indirect costs is negotiated separately for each institution; Dartmouth College receives 64 cents for every dollar of direct funding, Madden said.
The Trump administration has said it wants to cut down on “administrative bloat” by capping those rates at 15%.
Madden strongly pushed back on that characterization, saying their costs are negotiated with the federal government and audited rigorously.
He and senior research officials at Dartmouth Health say that funding supports the infrastructure that makes scientific breakthroughs possible – keeping the lights on at laboratories, paying back-office staff and supporting review boards that make sure experiments are done ethically.
“All of research will be impacted by this, from fundamental basic science research that fuels the pipeline of future medical therapies to population-based studies of epidemiology and cancer prevention,” said Dr. Steven Leach, the director of Dartmouth Health’s Cancer Center.
Dartmouth Health received about $19 million in NIH grants last year. Audra Burns, a spokesperson for the health system, said the cuts could mean an annual loss of $8 million.
That could affect a range of ongoing research projects, including efforts to improve breast cancer surgery and develop targeted cancer-prevention approaches based on advances in genomics, environmental science and other fields, Leach said.
“When we think about medical research in cancer, this is truly life-saving work,” he said.
