Inside the new political screening that’s stalling NIH grants

4 min read Original article ↗

Mandatory reviews by top health officials and checks for 235 disfavoured terms have left hundreds of vetted grant applications in administrative limbo.

By

  1. Max Kozlov

    1. Max Kozlov is a senior reporter with Nature in Washington DC.

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Hundreds of grant applications to the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) are being held up at any given time by unprecedented scrutiny after peer review. Some have been flagged by an algorithm for using terms, such as ‘gender’ and ‘climate change’, that have been deemed not to conform with the priorities of the administration of US President Donald Trump.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-01924-8

Updates & Corrections

  • Clarification 27 June 2026: The role of an NIH employee has been clarified in this version of the article.

Supplementary Information

  1. Disfavoured words

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