Naomi Caselli

How the NIH dominates the world’s health research — in charts Abrupt cuts by the Trump administration to the US National Institutes of Health threaten progress in medical research globally.

Some are embracing the fantasy that the cuts to #NIH funding will only have an impact here in the USA. As Nature reports, the NIH is the largest global funder by far and dwarfs the rest of the world’s funders of biomedical research.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Well, that was short lived.

Which ones are like that?

That is heartbreaking. I’m so sorry.

This is how it’s going…

bsky.app/profile/safa...

CWD July 2025

In this “Conversations with the Dean”, Dean Penny Bishop speaks with Leslie Dietiker, Naomi Caselli, and Elizabeth Bettini about how federal research funding drives equity, innovation, and long-term impact.

Read More: http://spr.ly/633254shWZ

#BUWheelock #BostonUniversity #EducationResearch

I am hopeful that this support will translate into meaningful change to protect and grow funding for research. The future of deaf children and their families depends on it. (16/16)

To me, one of the hardest parts is that there has long been bipartisan support for research—who wants deaf children suffer?? Science cannot be a partisan issue. I met with folks on both sides of the aisle on the Hill, and am grateful to see that there continues to be support for this work. (15/16)

We’re grateful our grant was reinstated, but the future remains uncertain. As @lizbettini.bsky.social says here, the uncertainty of funding makes planning and progress really challenging. (14/16)
www.instagram.com/reel/DL5eJsY...

One of our partner sites is a small deaf-run nonprofit that serves deaf children had been on the ground working on data collection. Our grant was cut retroactively, and they had already incurred a month’s worth of expenses, which is an awful lot for a small nonprofit to float. (13/16)

The job market for scientists is incredibly tight even in good times, and even tighter now. These folks have very few choices and are now under/unemployed, leaving the field, or leaving the country. (12.5/16)

A ton of grant $$ supports early career researchers who don’t yet have stable positions and depend on grants. Even short pauses in funding can be career ending. After years of investment in doctoral training, losing them is devastating not only for the individuals but the American workforce.(12/16)

Michelle Koplitz had been funded by one of the pipeline grants, and when it was cut she was able to move onto our R01, only to lose this funding as well. Students on these pipeline grants have had to try to scramble to find other funding sources. These grants have not been reinstated. (11/16)

This was just one of several grants that hit deaf-related research. There’s a pipeline in Rochester of 5 grants supporting deaf scientists at every stage of learning: K-12, BA, MA, PhD, and postdoc. Four of these were also terminated. (10/16)

A sign in front of a marble atrium reading "The things we'll never know" in fading color, with the subtitle "a science fair of canceled grants"

Naomi Caselli and Michelle Koplitz, two white women, in front of the Capitol building.

I was heading to Capitol Hill to a science fair on cancelled grants when we learned our grant was reinstated. Yay! But that’s not the end of the story. (9/16)

Thanks to the incredible network that is the Deaf community, we made it onto the APHA v. NIH legal case at the very last minute. The APHA won the case. (8/16)

It was caught in the DEIA cuts. We applied under a mechanism to increase participation in the scientific workforce. We qualified because most of the research team is deaf. That was crucial to this project—who better to assess language and communicate with families than deaf researchers. (7/16)

.@wyattehall.bsky.social led the effort to get an NIH R01 grant to tackle these problems. We spent the first year of the grant getting everything in place, and a week before we were set to go live, we found out the grant was terminated. (6/16)

We know language deprivation is preventable, but the early intervention landscape is a total jungle. Families have to make high stakes decisions with limited information and resources really fast. We need a solid evidence base to build strong systems to better support families. (5/16)

We know language deprivation happens, but we don’t have clinical diagnostic tools to identify it, and without those, we don’t have a clear idea of how often it happens. (4/16)

Our brains need language during early childhood for healthy development. Language deprivation has lasting effects on development, academics, workforce participation, and it is traumatic.

tl;dr language is super important for kids. (3/16)

Most deaf and hard of hearing kids are at risk of a condition called language deprivation. Almost all are born to hearing families who don’t know a sign language, and even with hearing aids or cochlear implants and speech therapy, many kids don’t get enough access to spoken language early on. (2/16)

Okay y’all, gather round for a chat. It’s been a roller coaster, and I thought I’d share what we’ve learned. 🧵 (1/16)
bsky.app/profile/luck...

Jenna Norton and Naomi Caselli in front of Naomi’s poster at the science fair for canceled grants.

At the Science Fair for canceled grants, I had the privilege of speaking with @naomicaselli.bsky.social. Her team (which includes deaf researchers) were making breakthroughs to better identify & address language deprivation — when the Trump administration terminated their grant.

Dr. Naomi Casselli stands in front of her poster describing her cancelled grant on family language planning.

Dr. Reichert standing behind his poster on his cancelled On-Ramp training program.

Drs. Casselli and Norton in front of Dr. Caselli’s poster.

Very grateful to have had the chance to attend the Science Fair of Cancelled Grants today.

As a program officer overseeing health equity research, I’ve heard far too many stories of lost science, lost careers, and lost jobs.

"Sinners" is bringing Black American sign language to the mainstream The film will be available on HBO Max later this month.

Black American Sign Language is distinct from American Sign Language—and it developed because Black Deaf students were segregated in their own Black schools for the Deaf.

That is great news!!

APHA is gathering grants by TOMORROW NOON for Phase 2 of their lawsuit vs. NIH which regards NIH **applications** that were unfairly pulled from review, mishandled, or delayed from being awarded due to DEI issues.

To add your grant to this lawsuit, become an APHA member & submit this survey:

The Relationship Between Community Size and Iconicity in Sign Languages Communication is harder in larger communities. Past research shows that this leads larger communities to create languages that are easier to learn and use. In particular, previous research suggests t....

New cool paper with cool people! Overall, we found that sign languages with more users avoid signs that are particularly low in iconicity (a result parallel with spoken languages) onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Blind toddlers often experience language delays. Blind adults do not.

In our new paper at @langdevres.bsky.social, we ask whether differences in language input could help them catch up:

Do parents speak differently to blind children than sighted children?

(Barely... read on for details)

🧪1/N