Dear Colleagues,
There are two important developments that I want to focus my comments on this week. I realize there are many other issues at play: award terminations and delays, award reinstatements, multi-year funding of new awards, foreign subaward pauses, a new animal research policy, and caps on award submissions, among others. Please know that my office is on top of these and is working closely with UCSF’s Federal Government Relations and other partners to engage and advocate with decision-makers.
On a very positive note, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved its FY26 “Labor/HHS” appropriations act, which covers funding and oversight for the NIH. The act proposed a $300 million increase for NIH for a total of just over $47 billion. The House has yet to produce its FY26 appropriations language, and before the final bill goes to the President for signature, the Senate and House must reconcile their sure-to-be competing visions. I am hopeful, however, that the House will also demonstrate strong support for NIH and that the final bill will provide stability to the agency.
The second development is deeply distressing. As you likely know, the federal government announced that it is freezing over $200 million in research funding to UCLA; the total impact remains unknown at this time. The stated reason for this is UCLA’s failure to address antisemitism and bias on campus. I encourage you to read UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk’s letter to the UCLA community in response to this action. UCSF continues to coordinate with the UC Office of the President and leaders throughout the system to stay apprised of further developments, and we will be sure to provide updates and operational guidance as appropriate. As of today, UCLA is the only campus in the UC system to receive such a funding freeze.
If you receive a communication from the media or another external entity regarding the recent UCLA news, please contact [email protected] to receive guidance from my office. Additionally, if you are an investigator who is concerned about operational impacts on human or animal subjects from UCLA subawards, please email [email protected] or [email protected], respectively.
As always, thank you for your attention to these updates and please contact [email protected] with questions.
Yours,
Hal
Harold R. Collard, MD, MS
Vice Chancellor for Research
Professor of Medicine and Health Policy