News Archives: May, 2025
NIH director answers questions at first staff town hall
Jayanta "Jay" Bhattacharya, the new director of the National Institutes of Health, held his first staff town hall Wednesday, facing a packed auditorium and fielding challenging questions on topics ranging from transparency regarding Trump administration decisions to research on gender.
RFK Jr. supports heavy cuts to HHS budget during intense hearings
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told Congress this week that Elon Musk’s DOGE initiative served as the model for spending cuts now reshaping the Department of Health and Human Services. Kennedy said his team implemented the plan but reversed some cuts made in error.
Sen. Cassidy appoints health lobbyist as Senate HELP staff lead
A former Leavitt Partners health care lobbyist has returned to Capitol Hill as the lead Republican staffer on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
Senate Appropriations Committee Hearing on Biomedical Research Held Wednesday
The US Senate Committee on Appropriations held a bipartisan hearing Wednesday morning. Many thanks to Dr. Hermann Haller, President of the MDI Biological Laboratory, Maine INBRE's lead institution, for his outstanding testimony and responses to questions asked by members of the Committee. You can download Dr. Haller’s testimony here. Other witnesses included: Sudip Parikh, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer and Executive Publisher, Science, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS); Cartier Esham, Ph.D., Executive Director, Alliance for a Stronger Food and Drug Administration; Barry Paul Sleckman, M.D., Ph.D., Director, University of Alabama at Birmingham O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center; and the incredibly brave and moving testimony of Mrs. Emily Stenson, a young mother accompanied by her five year old daughter Charlie who was diagnosed with Stage 4 germ cell cancer when she was only three. Watch live video of the hearing.