Abigail M Hatcher, PhD

The Committee has withdrawn its request! Which suggests that even a little bit of pushback really matters

How can HIV science resist assaults on our field?

✅ Rely on our home-grown movements
✅ Do not comply in advance
✅ Retain precise language
✅ Use our collective power
✅ Dual job: sustain science & secure safe human bodies

@nickmetheny.bsky.social
@kldunkle.bsky.social
@rebeccafieldingmiller.com

The Quiet Way the NIH Is Stalling Some Research Before It Starts A number of grant proposals have disappeared from scientists’ review pipelines, with little explanation. Applicants are bewildered and frustrated.

I would advise them to wait to submit. Given F and Ks have been pulled due to: diversity mechanism, place of performance (e.g. South Africa), or verboten topics. See Stephanie Lee's piece and ask buddies - grants are going missing at multiple moments of the cascade. www.chronicle.com/article/the-...

Colleagues at APHA, ACLU, Protect Democracy, and Ctr for Science in Public Interest showing us how to #ScienceInAmerica 🧪 @altnih4science.bsky.social @standupforscience.bsky.social @gregggonsalves.bsky.social

Excerpt from Rutgers University Senate resolution calling for a Mutual Academic Defense Compact. The excerpt reads: "BE IT RESOLVED THAT, the Rutgers University Senate urges the President of Rutgers University to formally propose and help establish a Mutual Academic Defense Compact (MADC) among all members of the Big Ten Academic Alliance; BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT, under this compact, all participating institutions shall commit meaningful funding to a shared or distributed defense fund. This fund shall be used to provide immediate and strategic support to any member institution under direct political or legal infringement;"

This exciting resolution from Rutgers University Senate is exactly the kind of model I think higher ed needs: a mutual defense pact of, in this case, Big 10 schools. They call for member institutions to create a joint defense fund and make resources available to any member institution under attack.

Humming along in an old church, the Internet Archive is more relevant than ever The Trump administration's erasure of federal data has put the Internet Archive in the spotlight. The organization, with its small but mighty team, is working to help save the world's digital history.

"We want to preserve public health data that are crucial for people's well-being," - social epidemiologist Nancy Krieger, on the value of the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine

www.npr.org/2025/03/23/n...

Last Friday, 1,000 more NIH biomedical research projects were defunded with no notice

Here’s a word cloud of canceled grants, based on their titles

Ah yes, pinpointing how men use rape, assault, and psychological terror towards pregnant people is scary for this administration. Because "protecting women" in no way means: keeping them alive, sane, or able to safely parent.

Most US universities are treating students with patronizing silence or "business-as-usual" platitudes (or banning their collective action altogether).

But what could it look like to work alongside early-career colleagues? I'll tell you: it feels essential and inspiring!

Cancelled NIH grant information submission form Please use this form to submit information identifying specific NIH grants that have been cancelled for any reason after January 20, 2025. Data from this form will be used to update the Rescinded NIH...

The crush of new grant cancellations hasn't let up.

If your grant was terminated (or your app was pulled) please use this Google Form👇 to submit details for tracking purposes.

Multiple advocacy efforts are moving forward, but we must must must know more about what grants were cancelled and why.

Today I lost an NIH grant training clinicians to do research about intimate partner violence with perinatal women.

More women are murdered in the perinatal period than die of obstetric complications.

I didn't just lose a grant. We lost an entire cohort of people building careers to prevent that.

U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights Sends Letters to 60 Universities Under Investigation for Antisemitic Discrimination and Harassment WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) sent letters to 60 institutions of higher education warning them of potential enforcement actions if they do not fulfill their obligations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to protect Jewish students on campus, including uninterrupted access to campus facilities and educational opportunities. The letters are addressed to all U.S. universities that are presently under investigation for Title VI violations relating to antisemitic harassment and discrimination. “The Department is deeply disappointed that Jewish students studying on elite U.S. campuses continue to fear for their safety amid the relentless antisemitic eruptions that have severely disrupted campus life for more than a year. University leaders must do better,” said Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. “U.S. colleges and universities benefit from enormous public investments funded by U.S. taxpayers. That support is a privilege and it is contingent on scrupulous adherence to federal antidiscrimination laws.” The schools that received letters from the Office for Civil Rights include:

American University Arizona State University Boston University Brown University California State University, Sacramento Chapman University Columbia University Cornell University Drexel University Eastern Washington University Emerson College George Mason University Harvard University Illinois Wesleyan University Indiana University, Bloomington Johns Hopkins University Lafayette College Lehigh University Middlebury College Muhlenberg College Northwestern University Ohio State University Pacific Lutheran University Pomona College Portland State University

Princeton University Rutgers University Rutgers University-Newark Santa Monica College Sarah Lawrence College Stanford University State University of New York Binghamton State University of New York Rockland State University of New York, Purchase Swarthmore College Temple University The New School Tufts University Tulane University Union College University of California Davis University of California San Diego University of California Santa Barbara University of California, Berkeley University of Cincinnati University of Hawaii at Manoa University of Massachusetts Amherst University of Michigan University of Minnesota, Twin Cities University of North Carolina University of South Florida University of Southern California University of Tampa University of Tennessee University of Virginia University of Washington-Seattle University of Wisconsin, Madison Wellesley College Whitman College Yale University

The Ed. Department's Office for Civil Rights sent letters to 60 additional institutions "warning them of potential enforcement actions" for "violations relating to antisemitic harassment and discrimination" including Harvard, Brown, Stanford, Princeton, UNC, and several UC's

Standing Up gives purpose in times of uncertainty. 👇🏼

The moral injury of doing nothing in the face of cruelty is great. Peaceful protest is the refuel we need. #SciencenotSilence @standupforscience.bsky.social

I'll be Standing Up for Science tomorrow with some protest crafts. Get in dorks!
standupforscience.bsky.social

BREAKING - ILLEGAL FOREIGN AID FREEZE
At oral argument on the preliminary injunction in AIDS Vaccine v. State, Judge Ali orders the Trump administration to pay all plaintiffs' invoices and letters of credit draw-down requests for work completed before Feb. 13 (approx. $2B) by 6pm Monday March 10

The foundations of America’s prosperity are being dismantled Federal scientists warn that Americans could feel the effects of the new administration's devastating cuts for decades to come

For decades, the US government has painstakingly kept American science #1 globally—and every facet of American life has improved because of it. The internet? Flu shot? Ozempic? All grew out of federally-funded research. Now all that's being dismantled. 1/ www.technologyreview.com/2025/02/21/1...

My student has a fundable NRSA and they have not received any communication since Councils and Federal Register has been shuttered. Should they reach out to someone different from PO?

UNC erased portions of the undergrad curriculum focused on equity to "be compliant" with executive orders. Let's see how university administrators backtrack now that constitutional rights are a thing again.

So many scientists are staying quiet. Proud to work alongside @rebeccafieldingmiller.com who says it like it is.

See you in Raleigh on Mon @ 2:30 (also featured in every state capitol near you)

@50501movement.bsky.social @50501activists.bsky.social

❗#USAID Temporary Restraining Order issued:

"All USAID employees currently on administrative leave shall be reinstated until [Feb 14] ... no additional employees shall be placed on administrative leave before that date. No USAID employees shall be evacuated from their host countries"

On changes to #NIH indirect rates, there is a law in place that prohibits NIH from making such changes without the approval of Congress. See Division D, Title II Section 224 of The Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 (Public Law No: 118-47) grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

Murphy: "This is a constitutional crisis that we are in today. Let's call it what it is."

Check this interpretation by legal scholar Wittes - he seems to think it doesn't matter whether agencies were defendants or not. bsky.app/profile/benj...

This isn't my first or even second time at the rodeo. I dealt with Ronald Reagan & George Bush trying to kill my community by ignoring the AIDS epidemic. It happened again when I lived in South Africa with Thabo Mbeki. And we won twice. So: courage. We will beat them too. Stay focused. Get to work.

Here is the guidance in full. The wording is very broad. This should help a lot of organizations and people.

State capture corrodes all of society, not just certain targeted institutions. It devolves economies and increases waste. State capture only ends once citizens push back - like the courageous federal workers who have been holding the line all week.

Now what will scientists do?

US institutions are being seized through "state capture".

State capture is systematic corruption by unelected civilians taking control of public institutions. The goal is to erode public interest for personal gain. 🧵

@altnih4science.bsky.social @gregggonsalves.bsky.social

Voices: We’re infectious disease experts. RFK Jr. would put all our health at risk. “A vote for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would take America back to a troubling era when countless children suffered and died from horrific infections, leaving many with lifelong disabilities,” write Susana ...

I am with dozens of Utah scientists, healthcare providers, and educators who urge Senators Lee and Curtis to vote no on RFK’s dangerous nomination. The health of Utahns and Americans is at risk. www.sltrib.com/opinion/comm...
@sltrib.com @gregggonsalves.bsky.social

This account is for sharing info with US scientists, both extramural and intramural to NIH, about attacks on science in the US.

Education is power, and we can help advocate for science and medicine together. 💪🧪

We are a team of NIH people. Please ask us questions you might have.