At a media event on Feb. 14, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center chief research officer Steven Bernstein said funding cuts to the National Institutes of Health under President Donald Trump’s administration could “severely hinder” research at Dartmouth and DHMC.
Bernstein explained that the indirect costs of research projects — the portions of grants which pay for administrative overhead such as facilities, maintenance and office staff — could be capped at 15% of NIH grant funding during Trump’s presidency. In 2024, indirect costs for research grants comprised 26% of total NIH grant funding, amounting to $9 billion, the NIH wrote on X on Feb. 7.
The College receives “nearly $100 million” annually in federal research grants from the NIH, according to vice provost for research Dean Madden. Approximately 33% is allocated to indirect costs, the New Hampshire Bulletin reported. With the proposed cuts, Dartmouth and Dartmouth Health would have lost $24 million and $8 million, respectively, the NH Bulletin added.
“If our administrative rate is capped as proposed, the result is going to be less science, fewer breakthrough therapies and less innovations,” Madden said.
Currently, 1,300 College employees and 400 DHMC employees’ positions are funded by federal grants, according to Madden and Bernstein. Cutting these positions would have a “really large impact on the [Upper Valley] region,” Madden said at the media event.
“We are not discussing layoffs or any kind of changes in employment right now,” Madden added. “We will really try to avoid that outcome … [but] if the research portfolio shrinks, those job opportunities are going to decline.”
The Trump administration announced its proposed cap for administrative overhead costs on Feb. 7. Following lawsuits from the Association of American Medical Colleges and 22 state attorney generals against the policy, U.S. district court judge Angel Kelley issued a nationwide temporary restraining order. Kelley’s order has delayed the cut pending a hearing on Feb. 21, Dartmouth sponsored projects director Jill Mortali wrote in a statement posted on the Office of Sponsored Projects website on Feb. 12.
“Faculty, staff, students and post-docs supported by federal funding should continue their normal activities unless otherwise notified by the Office of Sponsored Projects,” Mortali wrote.
The American Association of Universities — a non-profit organization of leading research universities in the United States and Canada, of which Dartmouth is a member — also filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts challenging the proposed cut, provost David Kotz wrote in a statement on the Office of the Provost website.
According to NPR, the NIH has authority to end contracts with several years remaining.
Madden emphasized that Dartmouth is one of few rural research institutions, adding that Geisel is the only medical school in New Hampshire. As a result, Dartmouth has a “deep commitment” to “addressing issues that are particularly severe in rural populations,” he said.
“Our ability to care for our neighbors and especially to design innovative healthcare solutions that will work for everyone, including people in the rural parts of this country, is at stake,” he said.
Scaling back research would also impact patients at DHMC, according to Dartmouth Cancer Center director Steven Leach.
“At any given time, our cancer center, like all [NIH-funded] comprehensive cancer centers, have hundreds of clinical trials that are actively enrolling patients, providing them access to current state-of-the-art therapy but also promising future treatment options,” Leach said. “All of this is at risk with the proposed reductions of funding.”
Further, universities facing federal funding cuts could struggle to find alternative funding methods. According to Bernstein, though “short-term solutions” — such as private organization funding to complete ongoing research — are available, there is no “systemic or long-term” substitute for federal funding.
“The potential for damage to the American biomedical research enterprise is real,” he said.
