To our WashU community,
You likely have seen the news that the National Institutes of Health have made cuts to research funding for facilities and administration. These cuts also will be implemented by other federal agencies and stand to have a significant impact on institutions like WashU.
We’re writing to you today because we know this news is probably concerning to many of you. We want to assure you that the university’s leadership team is fully activated and closely monitoring the situation to see what these cuts could mean for our mission-critical work, and to ensure that we are prepared to respond as needed on behalf of the institution.
For the past several weeks, we have been watching carefully as the new administration has taken office. As other proposed or actual changes to research funding have happened, we have communicated directly with our research community to make sure our scientists have had the best information we have to better navigate the situation and manage their individual work. With this latest announcement, we felt it was important to reach out to our full community so you all are aware of how we are responding.
We’re mobilized on multiple fronts. Our leadership team is closely reviewing the policy, and our government relations team is engaging with congressional representatives and others to ensure that they understand the consequences of these cuts and are encouraged to act to address this threat to research and its many benefits to society. We also are working with our national organizations to respond to this issue.
As with any federal action, there are many possible outcomes to this situation. We are prepared to respond as the situation requires. We will continue to keep our community informed as we learn more.
Sincerely,
Andrew D. Martin, PhD
Chancellor
David H. Perlmutter, MD
Executive Vice Chancellor for Medical Affairs and Dean of the School of Medicine
Beverly Wendland, PhD
Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs