When Science Is Silenced: Resilience Amid Canceled Promises

By Heather Littleton, Ph.D.
Director of Research Operations, Professor

In the past two months, over 2 billion dollars of already awarded National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants have been cancelled. These cancellations required researchers to stop their studies immediately and stated that the grants were being cancelled because they “no longer effectuated administration priorities” or were “unscientific.”  The cancelled grants all had in common a focus in whole or in part on LGBTQ+ populations, racial and ethnic minority individuals, or vaccines/vaccine hesitancy.  It is impossible to overstate the impact on science these cancellations will have.  As projects were often in the middle of clinical trials, that means that research participants in many cases will not receive beneficial or even lifesaving treatments.  It also means that much of the funds already spent on these projects will be wasted as researchers will not be able to draw any conclusions from these partially completed projects.  Other impacts will be generational.  For one, NIH grants provide stipends and employment for graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and other trainees.  As a result, many aspiring scientists will be unable to obtain the training they need and will be forced to seek out alternative careers. In addition, these abrupt cancellations erode the public’s trust in scientific research, particularly populations that have historically been harmed by the scientific establishment, such as racial and ethnic minority individuals.

My own NIH grant was among these cancelled grants. Our project involved developing and testing an online group program to prevent dating violence and risky behaviors among LGBTQ+ teens. The program was for teens and their parents and focused on helping families build community and support for their teens and learn important skills to help teens in making healthy choices. Developing such a program for LGBTQ+ teens is critical as they face increased risk of dating violence and other negative outcomes.  At the same time, parents find it challenging navigating issues like dating with their LGBTQ+ teens, and teens often face discrimination and rejection, including from their families. When our project was terminated, we had completed an initial pilot of the program with 6 families and enrolled another 22 families into a clinical trial of the program. Feedback from families who have completed the program demonstrates its impact on parents’ ability to support their teens. For example, one parent stated, “But it [the program] also did make me even more convinced that I'll do whatever I have to do to fight to keep her safe, and you know, let her live her life authentically.” Another parent said, “It helped me just to be like, ‘Okay, this is, we are a family. We're an LGBTQ+ family, you know. I think it helped with that.”

We are currently pursuing multiple options to try to continue this critical work. Our first priority is ensuring that all families enrolled in the study receive this intervention. We are also pursuing multiple avenues to try to complete the study.  You can assist us in ensuring that we are able to continue this work by making a gift to the Institute.  You can click here to make a donation.  If you are interested in making a larger philanthropic gift, you can contact Elyse Dunckley at edunckle@uccs.edu or 719-255-3315