As the next Trump administration overhauls the federal government, the National Institutes of Health could be among the top targets for restructuring. "I do think you probably will see changes in NIH, as well as other public health agencies like CDC and maybe even FDA," says Dr. Joel Zinberg , a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute and director of the Public Health and American Wellbeing Initiative at the Paragon Health Institute, both conservative think tanks.
"And that's primarily I think because there was a real erosion in trust in those agencies during the pandemic," he says. While the NIH — which gets $48 billion annually for biomedical research — has historically enjoyed bipartisan support, Trump proposed cutting its budget during his first term. And the pandemic didn't leave positive feelings towards the agency in some quarters.
"I think changes are warranted. It's important to restore trust in public health agencies, of which NIH is one," Zinberg says. Some major changes at the NIH would require congressional approval.
Trump has the authority to pick the NIH director right away, though the new director would have to be confirmed by the Senate. The current director, Monica M. Bertagnolli, was appointed by President Biden in November.
And shaking up the NIH has fans. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
, a vocal critic of mainstream medicine, has President-elect Donald Trump's ear. Over the weekend, Kennedy said he'd like to immediately replace 600 NIH employees..
