Five years ago, early career researchers needed help to survive the pandemic. Now they need it again Without them, American medicine faces huge setbacks

https://www.statnews.com/2025/03/24/early-career-researchers-medicine-nih-grants-pipeline/?utm_campaign=morning_rounds&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-90fyniGkxQkrI_sUa9y5Nn3TvrMYFle0eHN-mcwxDRdb-rvkggcZ_N6TolzLoiepcnQAKdNzCAv1-cbdlthqMvemL1wA&_hsmi=353208413&utm_content=353208413&utm_source=hs_email A new crisis for early career researchers When Covid-19 began sweeping across the country, young and early career scientists were hit the hardest by the challenges faced by the field as a whole. With in-person conferences cancelled, labs closed, social distancing policies in place, and some staff redeployed to work on the frontlines of clinical care, it’s no wonder this group reported career struggles, worse productivity, and poorer mental health in those early years. Five years later, there’s a new disruption roiling academic research, but it’s the same people who are most at risk after a slew of federal actions, three physicians and professors write in a new First Opinion essay. The freeze in study section meetings, proposed cut to indirect costs, and the termination of grants with “prohibited terms” are threatening the careers of researchers, Ph.D. students, post-docs, and prospective students. Read more about what institutions can do to ensure a generation of scientists and their future work isn’t lost.