Education
Sen. Dick Durbin, University Leaders Push Back on Trump’s Efforts to Cut Medical Research Funding
University of Chicago researcher Dr. Scott Oakes, right, speaks during a news conference with U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, left, and other medical researchers on the Near West Side on Feb. 17, 2025. (WTTW News)
Local research leaders joined U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin in the Illinois Medical District on the Near West Side on Monday to discuss the importance of continued funding for medical research amid the Trump administration’s efforts to cut federal spending.
“Research creates knowledge and innovation that helps us improve the care that we provide,” Rush University President Dr. Robert Higgins said during a news conference. “But, often, perhaps without measure, it also gives our patients something even more: hope.”
Last week, a federal judge in Massachusetts temporarily blocked the National Institutes of Health from slashing funding for medical and public health research at universities after attorneys general from nearly two dozen states, including Illinois, filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for attempts to cut medical research funding.
The NIH awarded more than $1.2 billion in funding to Illinois last fiscal year, most of which went to universities, but also to hospitals and other research labs. The agency serves as the largest public funder of biomedical research in the world.
The value and very existence of the NIH is under political attack, according to Dr. Scott Oakes, a researcher at the University of Chicago who studies the role of cells in diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer's, diabetes and more.
“At a time of such political division, Americans need to find common ground,” Oakes said. “We should all agree that medical research is one of those areas where we can all come together.”
Before being temporarily blocked by a federal judge, the NIH announced it would cut spending on overhead, or indirect, costs given to research institutions receiving NIH grants. Currently, some universities receive 50% or more of the amount of a grant to put toward support staff and other needs, but that would be capped at 15%, according to the Associated Press.
The cuts would cost the University of Illinois System about $67 million annually, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said in a statement last week announcing the lawsuit. Other public universities, like the Southern Illinois University System, would also see cuts.
Dr. Rachel Caskey, who leads the department of medicine at University of Illinois Chicago, said university administrators have told researchers to operate “as usual” for now. But, researchers, clinicians and patients are extremely anxious, according to Caskey.
Caskey said NIH funding is critical to support medical research at UIC and UI Health, including 400 clinical trials currently underway focused on prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease.
“It’s trickling down to patients asking — particularly those who may have participated in a clinical trial, or a family member has — and now they’re concerned: Will this finish? What could happen?” Caskey said. “There’s a lot of anxiety felt throughout the institution.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Contact Eunice Alpasan: @eunicealpasan | 773-509-5362 | [email protected]
