Two foreign nationals employed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) were charged Tuesday with smuggling monkeypox into the United States and lying to federal law enforcement. 
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan, Vincent Munster, 53, a Dutch citizen and chief of the Virus Ecology Section at the NIH’s Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Montana, and Claude Kwe, 38, a Cameroonian national and NIH research fellow, were charged with conspiracy to smuggle monkeypox into the United States from the Republic of Congo and giving false statements to federal investigators.
Both men face a maximum sentence of five years in prison if convicted.
The two men worked at a Biosafety Level 4 laboratory, the highest level of biological containment used to study the world&#8217;s most dangerous pathogens.
Federal authorities claim the pair arrived at Detroit Metropolitan Airport on January 25 after traveling from Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, where a monkeypox outbreak was ongoing. Customs and Border Protection officers reportedly questioned the men after noticing they were transporting a large black plastic case.
According to investigators, Munster and Kwe told officers the case contained diagnostic and testing equipment. Authorities later determined the case allegedly contained 113 biological vials packed inside Styrofoam coolers.
Federal investigators said testing on 20 of the vials found that 17 contained deactivated monkeypox virus, one contained chickenpox virus, and two contained human DNA.
“These NIH experts apparently broke our laws by smuggling viral pathogens on a packed commercial airplane from an outbreak in the Republic of Congo. Let that sink in,” U.S. Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon Jr. said in a statement.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, monkeypox is a viral disease that spreads primarily through close physical contact with infected people, animals, or contaminated materials. While most infected individuals recover, children, pregnant women, and people with weakened immune systems face a <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9468204/">greater risk</a> of severe illness. The CDC says the virus does not spread through casual contact or through the air in places like classrooms, offices, or pools.
Outbreaks of monkeypox have been ongoing in Central and Eastern Africa since late 2023. The CDC says the global clade IIb monkeypox outbreak that began in 2022 has resulted in more than 100,000 cases across 122 countries.
Since November 2024, the United States has recorded more than 20 laboratory-confirmed clade I monkeypox cases, according to the CDC. Officials say those infections involved travelers returning from affected regions in Africa or Europe, or individuals linked to recent travelers.
FBI Detroit Special Agent in Charge Jennifer Runyan said the allegations were “serious” and involved “dangerous and unlawful smuggling” along with attempts to mislead federal agents.
“No researchers should believe their positions, credentials, or professional status place them above the law,” Runyan added.
The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General also condemned the alleged conduct, warning that attempts to conceal biological materials could place the public at risk.
“We have zero tolerance for anyone who attempts to exploit our research frameworks, circumvent our border enforcement processes, or deceive investigators,” said CBP Director of Field Operations Marty C. Raybon.

BURUNDI-HEALTH-VIRUS-MPOX

Leftist Scientists Caught Sneaking 113 Vials Of Monkeypox Into America

Crime

Health

Monkeypox

For years, the federal government handed out money for important scientific research based on racially-focused “diversity” goals and requirements. 
Since beginning his second term in office, President Donald Trump has moved to banish diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) from the federal grant process through executive orders. Rep. Ralph Norman, a Republican from South Carolina, wants to ensure those racially-focused requirements, once implemented by the nation’s largest funders of scientific research, do not return.  
“Taxpayer-funded research should be awarded based on merit, innovation, and results, not DEI-driven activist handouts,” Norman told The Daily Wire. “Americans are tired of watching universities prioritize ideological checkboxes over achievement.”
&nbsp;
<iframe style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; max-width: 100%; width: 100%; border: 0; height: auto;" title="DW Player" src="https://public.dailywire.com/preroll-player/embed.html?playback-id=b6QXC8fKimDhfWwJWy01Q6rGds2dvCAcW&amp;ad-tag-url=https%3A%2F%2Fpubads.g.doubleclick.net%2Fgampad%2Fads%3Fiu%3D%2F61914415%2Fdw.video.article%26description_url%3Ddailywire.com%26url%3D%26tfcd%3D0%26npa%3D0%26sz%3D640x480%26min_ad_duration%3D5000%26max_ad_duration%3D60000%26gdfp_req%3D1%26unviewed_position_start%3D1%26vpos%3Dpreroll%26output%3Dvast%26plcmt%3D1%26env%3Dvp%26vpa%3Dclick%26vpmute%3D0%26impl%3Ds%26correlator%3D%5Bcachebuster%5D" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Norman, running in the South Carolina governor&#8217;s race on an anti-DEI platform, introduced a <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/1046071956/NORMAN-Merit-Restoration-Act?_gl=1*1jcsz0b*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTk1OTI2NzA0OC4xNzgwNDE3MjMx*_ga_Z4ZC50DED6*czE3ODA0MTcyMzAkbzEkZzEkdDE3ODA0MTcyMzQkajU2JGwwJGgw*_ga_8KZ8BV0P5W*czE3ODA0MTcyMzAkbzEkZzEkdDE3ODA0MTcyMzQkajU2JGwwJGgw">bill</a> on Tuesday that would ban the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health from using DEI requirements or diversity mandates when deciding which scientific projects to fund. 
The bill, known as the Merit Restoration Act, states that federal research agencies “may not use any prohibited diversity, equity, or inclusion practice in awarding, evaluating, or continuing a Federal research grant.”
In archived pages, the National Science Foundation, which has an annual budget of more than $8 billion, <a href="https://www.nsf.gov/funding/opportunities/bpe-broadening-participation-engineering/505962/nsf22-514/solicitation">said</a> one of the agency&#8217;s main priorities was increasing the participation of “underrepresented groups” and women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. 
This focus was reflected in the agency&#8217;s Broadening Participation in Engineering <a href="https://www.nsf.gov/funding/opportunities/bpe-broadening-participation-engineering/505632/pd19-7680">program,</a> designed to increase the involvement of racial and sexual minorities in engineering. It defined underrepresented races as people who are black, Hispanic, American Indians, and Pacific Islander. 
&nbsp;
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1106913" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-02-at-10.58.02-AM.png" alt="" width="1551" height="529" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-02-at-10.58.02-AM.png 1551w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-02-at-10.58.02-AM-300x102.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-02-at-10.58.02-AM-1024x349.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-02-at-10.58.02-AM-768x262.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-02-at-10.58.02-AM-1536x524.png 1536w" sizes=" (max-width: 1551px) 100vw, 1551px" /></div>
Other NSF grants have also been used to fund travel to academic <a href="https://www2024.thewebconf.org/attending/nsf-student-travel-awards/">conferences</a> that <a href="https://www.wsdm-conference.org/2024/nsf-student-travel-awards/">gave</a> &#8220;priority&#8221; for scholarships to individuals from “underrepresented groups.” 
Another example listed by Norman’s office was an NIH research education program <a href="https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-CA-21-020.html">focused</a> on “educational activities that encourage individuals from diverse backgrounds, including those from groups underrepresented in the biomedical and behavioral sciences, to pursue further studies or careers in research.”
These types of programs came as NIH had an official statement on its “interest in diversity” that said that it encouraged “institutions to diversify their student and faculty populations to enhance the participation of individuals from groups that are underrepresented in the biomedical, clinical, behavioral, and social sciences.”
That NIH page has been <a href="https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-20-031.html">deleted</a> as the Trump administration has moved to eliminate DEI-focused funding. 
The Trump administration has also faced litigation over its decision to terminate more than 1,000 grants related to DEI or radical gender ideology. In December 2025, the agency agreed to a settlement to review grants on a standardized case-by-case basis. Many of the projects impacted were kept sealed from the public record, making it difficult to determine exactly which grants were involved.
“Federal research dollars should support the strongest proposals and the best science, whether in medicine, engineering, or scientific innovation, not political agendas,” Norman told The Daily Wire. “That’s what taxpayers expect and deserve.”

The answers are all in the details

Trump’s Effort To Purge DEI From Science Funding Could Be Locked Into Law

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

South Carolina

Trump Administration

President Donald Trump has cracked down on transgender procedures for kids since returning to office. But that hasn&#8217;t stopped the federal government from funding a radical doctor&#8217;s $3 million study on puberty blockers.
The National Institute of Mental Health approved $728,119 in February 2026 for a <a href="https://reporter.nih.gov/search/06tsrMfvqUOi2mTIvah-OA/project-details/11090506" target="_blank" rel="noopener">project</a> on puberty blockers based out of the Research Institute Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. One of the principal investigators of the project, Dr. John Strang, is <a href="https://wpath.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/WPATH-GEI-Neurodivergence-in-Adults-WS-Final.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">closely affiliated</a> with the World Professional Association for Transgender Health. WPATH has faced criticism over its <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/leaked-files-from-transgender-medical-org-show-medical-malpractice" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shoddy science</a> and accusations that its recommendations are driven by ideology.
Strang’s project entails 132 “transgender adolescents” at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., and Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago, according to its description. Half of the kids would be on puberty blockers while the other half would not, according to researchers. Researchers leading the project hope to “clarify its potential protective and risk effects to support optimization and personalization of treatment protocols.”
The Department of Health and Human Services has determined that puberty blockers are not safe for gender-confused children, and has issued several directives going after hospitals and doctors that push transgender procedures on kids. But HHS downplayed the radical nature of the grant in a statement to The Daily Wire, saying that the project in question does not involve giving puberty blockers to kids, but recruits patients from gender clinics considering going on puberty blockers.
“HHS continues to fight to protect America&#8217;s children from irreversible harm outlined in the Department&#8217;s peer-reviewed report,” an official told The Daily Wire. “These detrimental procedures do not meet professionally recognized standards of health care, and practitioners who perform sex-rejecting procedures on minors would be deemed out of compliance with those standards.&#8221;
In total, the project has been awarded $3,741,119 in federal funding between 2021-2024 and 2026. The project did not get funding in 2025, a decision that appears to have been made in March 2025, <a href="https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_R01MH123746_075" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to spending records.
The American Accountability Foundation, which <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/woke-government-bureacrats-witholding-data-on-blockbuster-trans-study-watchdog-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has sued</a> the NIH for more information on its transgender experiments, said that the funding shows the need for increased oversight.
“DOGE did some great work, but I&#8217;ve been around Washington long enough to know that if you don&#8217;t keep your eyes on the deep state they&#8217;ll resume the same bad behavior the moment you look away,&#8221; Tom Jones, the organization&#8217;s president, told The Daily Wire.
The Trump administration <a href="https://www.gao.gov/assets/890/880607.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">suspended</a> 1,800 NIH grants determined to be related to DEI or other radical topics between February 2025 and June 2025. The NIH later agreed to review grants on a standardized case-by-case basis in a <a href="https://www.aclu.org/documents/apha-v-nih-stipulation-agreement" target="_blank" rel="noopener">settlement</a> after a lawsuit from a number of organizations that lost federal funding. Many of the projects impacted were kept sealed from the public record, making it difficult to determine exactly which grants were involved.
Nothing in the agreement &#8220;diminishes or enlarges NIH’s discretion over the decision to award funding, or creates a final agency action where a final agency action would not otherwise exist,&#8221; the settlement agreement said.
The puberty blocker project’s public description notes that puberty blockers are “endorsed” by WPATH and claims that initial studies show “mental health benefits for transgender youth” put on puberty blockers. Puberty blockers can seriously impact bone density, sexual development, and fertility, and can cause vision issues and lead to brain swelling. Many medical experts have rejected the claims of advocates for transgender procedures that puberty blockers are fully reversible.
Strang <a href="https://research.childrensnational.org/people/john-strang" target="_blank" rel="noopener">runs</a> the gender and autism program at Children’s National and is on faculty with the Global Education Institute for WPATH. The gender program at Children&#8217;s National currently <a href="https://www.childrensnational.org/get-care/departments/gender-and-autism-program" target="_blank" rel="noopener">does not</a> provide so-called &#8220;gender-affirming care&#8221; medical treatments because of &#8220;escalating legal and regulatory risks,&#8221; but it does offer &#8220;mental health&#8221; services. Before Trump took office, the hospital performed multiple transgender surgeries and had 47 patients on puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, <a href="https://stoptheharmdatabase.com/hospital/childrens-national-medical-center/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to the Stop the Harm database.
Throughout 2025, Strang <a href="https://wpath.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/WPATH-GEI-Neurodivergence-in-Adults-WS-Final.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">participated</a> in a <a href="https://wpath.org/gei/upcoming-gei-courses/wpath-gei-online-neurodiversity-workshop/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">number</a> of WPATH workshops for health care professionals “committed to advancing affirming care for transgender and gender-diverse” patients.
Additionally, Strang <a href="https://wpath.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/SOC8-Full-Contributor-List-FINAL-UPDATED-09232021.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">contributed</a> to the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/26895269.2022.2100644" target="_blank" rel="noopener">standards of care</a> produced by WPATH that recommended that doctors tell adolescents about “chest binding and genital tucking,” put girls on “menstrual suppression agents” if they don’t want to go on testosterone, and leave the door open for doctors to recommend “puberty suppression, hormone initiation, or gender-related surgery for gender diverse and transgender adolescents.”
Other researchers on the project include Dr. Diane Chen and Dr. <a href="https://www.nationwidechildrens.org/find-a-doctor/profiles/eric-e-nelson" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Eric Nelson</a>, who is listed as the project leader.
Nelson is a principal investigator at Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s Center for Biobehavioral Health and is a professor at Ohio State University College of Medicine. He is the <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39196327/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">co-author</a> of a study on mental health concerns for gender-confused youth.
Chen is a researcher and doctor with the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children&#8217;s Hospital of Chicago and Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine, where she has focused on transgender issues. At Lurie, <a href="https://research.luriechildrens.org/en/researchers/diane--chen/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">she</a> “has worked clinically with transgender, nonbinary, and gender-diverse young people and youth and young adults with differences of sex development/intersex variations since 2013.”
Chen was <a href="https://reporter.nih.gov/search/06tsrMfvqUOi2mTIvah-OA/projects" target="_blank" rel="noopener">involved</a> with a seperate expansive <a href="https://oversight.house.gov/release/mcclain-probes-9-7-million-taxpayer-funded-study-buried-by-activist-researcher-on-puberty-blockers%EF%BF%BC/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$9.7 million</a> NIH-funded study that experimented on kids by giving them puberty blockers. In February 2023, Chen published a <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2206297" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study</a> based on research funded by another NIH grant <a href="https://news.feinberg.northwestern.edu/2023/02/02/gender-affirming-hormones-improve-mental-health-in-transgender-and-nonbinary-youth/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claiming</a> that giving kids cross-sex hormones improves their “mental health.”
“Our results provide robust scientific evidence that improved appearance congruence secondary to hormone treatment is strongly linked to better mental health outcomes in transgender and nonbinary youth,” she said at the time.
That assessment contrasts directly with the conclusions reached by the Trump administration in May 2025 that medical interventions for minors experiencing gender confusion are not supported by science and that the risks of the procedures are high.

Trans procedures

Despite Trump Pledge, Taxpayer Money Is Still Funding Leftist Scientists’ Puberty Blocker Study

Puberty blockers

Transgender

WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration is ending the use of human fetal tissue in federally-funded research, The Daily Wire can first report.
Effective immediately, National Institutes of Health funds will no longer be used for research that involves the fetal tissue of aborted babies. That policy will apply to all NIH grants, cooperative agreements, transaction awards, research and development contracts, and the NIH Intramural Research Program.
The move is a significant win for the pro-life movement, which has long pushed for the United States to respect the dignity of the unborn, whose tissue is bought by researchers after abortions. Under the first Trump administration, the president banned intramural use of aborted fetal tissue, meaning research conducted within United States government facilities.
This time, Trump&#8217;s NIH is going further, stating that it will not fund any research involving tissue from aborted babies. The institute frames the move as a significant milestone in the Trump administration&#8217;s efforts to &#8220;modernize biomedical science and accelerate innovation,&#8221; but it comes just one day before the annual March for Life, a significant nod to the pro-life Americans gathering in Washington who have worked for years to arrive at this moment.
“NIH is pushing American biomedical science into the 21st century,” NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya said Thursday. “This decision is about advancing science by investing in breakthrough technologies more capable of modeling human health and disease. Under President Trump’s leadership, taxpayer-funded research must reflect the best science of today and the values of the American people.”
<div id="attachment_1031609" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-trump-admin-ends-funding-for-research-using-aborted-baby-tissue/hhs-secretary-kennedy-holds-news-conference-on-synthetic-dyes-in-food-supply-6" rel="attachment wp-att-1031609"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1031609" class="wp-image-1031609 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2210917374-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2210917374-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2210917374-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2210917374-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2210917374.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)</div>
Only 77 projects using human fetal tissue were funded by NIH during the Fiscal Year 2024, declining steadily since 2019, NIH says. Simultaneously, other advances offer alternatives that can &#8220;drive discovery while reducing ethical concerns:&#8221; advances in tissue chips, computational biology, organoids, and other platforms.
In an interview with Daily Wire editor emeritus Ben Shapiro, Bhattacharya noted that the use of human fetal tissue from aborted babies has sparked arguments for years, putting &#8220;a large part of the population&#8221; in an ethical quandary. Given the significant advances in science and the plethora of alternatives, he said, there is no reason to put Americans in a position that might violate their consciences.
&#8220;Now that there is better technology, there&#8217;s no scientific harm to this, we&#8217;re still going to be able to use the science we need &#8230; while at the same time getting rid of this use of aborted fetal tissue which so many people, including me, find morally abhorrent,&#8221; Bhattacharya said.
He also pointed out that tissue can still be used for NIH-funded research if it is not specifically from an abortion.
&#8220;Someone who has had a miscarriage and wants to do a meaningful thing and they donate the tissue from the miscarriage to science, that&#8217;s still allowed,&#8221; he told Shapiro. &#8220;The only ban is on, you have an abortion specifically to terminate the baby, and then the tissue then gets sold, that&#8217;s what&#8217;s being banned.&#8221;
The administration views the move as evidence of its commitment to both scientific excellence and &#8220;responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars,&#8221; ensuring that the United States is still the &#8220;global leader in biomedical innovation&#8221; while at the same time staying true to the values of the American people.
Bhattacharya stressed this point, reminding Shapiro that certain coronavirus vaccines were developed using embryonic stem cells.
&#8220;I heard from so many people during the pandemic, Catholics and others, who had qualms about using this technology because they didn&#8217;t want to be gaining from what their moral system said was the fruit of the poisoned tree,&#8221; he explained, adding, &#8220;I completely sympathize with this.&#8221;
&#8220;In public health and in science, we should seek to produce knowledge and products that are widely available for everybody,&#8221; the NIH leader continued. &#8220;If there are large numbers of people with moral systems that say if you go down this line and use research with aborted human fetal tissue, I&#8217;m not going to participate in it&#8230;well what good was the research?&#8221;
As abortions in the United States became more common, the use of aborted baby bodies for research sparked national controversy. In the early 2000s, then-Senator Rick Santorum introduced the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/109th-congress/senate-bill/3504">Fetus Farming Prohibition Act of 2006</a>, banning any person or entity involved in interstate commerce from soliciting or knowingly acquiring, receiving, or accepting a donation of human fetal tissue obtained through an abortion.
<div id="attachment_1031611" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-trump-admin-ends-funding-for-research-using-aborted-baby-tissue/pro-life-activist-david-daleiden-appears-in-court-over-planned-parenthood-video-sting-2" rel="attachment wp-att-1031611"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1031611" class="wp-image-1031611 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-508396548-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-508396548-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-508396548-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-508396548-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-508396548.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>David Daleiden (Photo by Eric Kayne/Getty Images)</div>
President George W. Bush signed that bill into law in July 2006. But anxieties over the use of aborted baby bodies continued, and in 2015 and 2016, undercover pro-life activist David Daleiden, the head of the Center for Medical Progress, <a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/08/07/exclusive-kamala-harris-sent-agents-raid-pro-life-journalists-home-met-planned-parenthood-emails-show/">published videos allegedly showing</a> Planned Parenthood officials describing how they extract aborted-baby body parts and joking about compensation.
Daleiden alleged that the videos prove Planned Parenthood was selling the aborted baby body parts for profit. Planned Parenthood said he was lying, sued him, accused him of deceptively editing the videos, and claimed they were only reimbursed for costs (meaning, the expenses incurred in transportation or delivery). After heavy backlash, Planned Parenthood announced in 2015 that they would no longer accept reimbursements for costs.
Daleiden suffered through almost a decade of legal battles, led by the California Attorney General&#8217;s Office headed at the time by Kamala Harris. Xavier Becerra, who would go on to become Joe Biden&#8217;s Health and Human Services secretary, carried on that legal battle against Daleiden after Harris left office.

President Trump Announces Plan To Reduce The Cost Of Prescription Drugs

Ahead Of March For Life, Trump Admin Ends Funding For Research Using Aborted Baby Tissue

Abortion

Donald Trump

March For Life

The federal government awards research grants to universities to make scientific breakthroughs, but for every dollar that it has spent on science, up to 70 additional cents is diverted to administrators, a new study found.
That allows the universities to essentially extort the federal government by claiming that the funding is necessary for public health, while gobbling up a large portion for DEI, hiring more deans, and unrelated campus programs.
Current policy provides an overhead rate of a whopping 50 to 70%, paid on top of the actual scientific grant, dramatically ballooning the cost to taxpayers and creating a college industrial complex, watchdog group <a href="https://www.openthebooks.com/assets/1/6/Transparency_Academia_Overhead.pdf">Open the Books</a> said in a new report. The costs are a &#8220;black box&#8221; that is absorbed by taxpayers, but has no public accounting, the group said.
The findings come as the Trump administration seeks to rein in the partisanship of universities and find ways to reduce waste without impacting important scientific research. The Trump administration has proposed reducing the overhead rate to 15%, but the move has been stalled by a court ruling after university groups sued.
The University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, one of four universities that Open the Books examined, had a negotiated overhead rate of 55 to 56%. It received $9.4 billion in federal research funding between 2013 and 2023, up to $2.3 billion of which was siphoned off for &#8220;overhead,&#8221; the report &#8212; first obtained by The Daily Wire &#8212; found. During that time, the university&#8217;s administrative staff, but not professors, swelled, and DEI staff climbed from 27 to 179.
One grant was for $2.5 million to take a curriculum from the left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center and turn it into a middle school anti-racism program about &#8220;white supremacy&#8221; and &#8220;solidarity.&#8221; That project alone brought in a whopping $1,173,910 in additional money for the university thanks to its 56% overhead rate.
Rutgers had an overhead rate as high as 57%. Of $3.8 billion in science grants, as little as $2.4 billion was left for direct costs. Concurrent with the influx of funding, its staff grew by 10,000 &#8212; only a quarter of whom were teachers.
The high overhead rates give universities a financial incentive to apply for grants even if the research is not useful or high-quality. Recent reports found that only 46% of 53 cancer studies could be replicated, and most research in psychology journals did not replicate. That means the conclusions are so dubious that when someone else took the same steps, they didn&#8217;t get the same results.
<a class="c-link c-link--focus-visible c-link--underline" href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial&amp;utm_campaign=christmas&amp;utm_content=christmassale25" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial&amp;utm_campaign=christmas&amp;utm_content=christmassale25" data-sk="tooltip_parent">Christmas Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships</a>
A National Association of Scholars report described the perverse incentives: &#8220;While scientists pursue research funding for discovery, institutions want research grants to generate revenue. Because scientists are employees, and administrations are employers, administrations’ interests will always have the upper hand. This is the means whereby academic scientists are reduced to being generators of revenue, not agents of discovery.&#8221;
That group said that in 2023, the federal government gave universities $60 billion in research grants, $22 billion of which went to overhead. If the overhead rate was reduced to 15%, it would have freed up $14 billion, which could be used on actual research or simply to save taxpayer dollars.
The National Science Foundation spent $7.4 billion in research and development grants in fiscal 2024. Although the Department of Health and Human Services, and its arms like the National Institutes of Health, make more awards to colleges, there is additional bloat in NSF funding because of a congressional requirement, Open the Books found.
Congress, through a bill called the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010, required those grants to include what it calls &#8220;broader impacts&#8221; work, requiring scientists to do DEI and public relations work. &#8220;These requirements fundamentally transformed universities and their approach to scientific research,&#8221; the report said.
For example, a $600,000 grant for a chemistry project called “Unravelling the Nature of Elusive Transition Metal-oxyl Complexes” now included a hidden slush fund, under &#8220;broader impacts,&#8221; for &#8220;recruiting Underrepresented Minority (URM) high school students to STEM fields.&#8221; A $1.5 million project to develop a dog-like robot at Rutgers University had a &#8220;broader impacts&#8221; slush fund to &#8220;leverage diversity programs at Rutgers University to recruit and support underrepresented groups.”
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill received $7.7 billion in science grants over a decade and had an overhead rate of 52-55%. A $510,000 chemistry grant for &#8220;vapor deposition techniques&#8221; was siphoned off for &#8220;promoting LGBTQ+ participation in scientific research and in society as a whole.&#8221;
The DEI programming was concealed under line-items that appeared to be for legitimate scientific research. &#8220;When critics of Trump’s plan to eliminate NSF discuss funding cuts to science, they don’t mention that funds for actual scientific discovery are already being cut into with Congressionally mandated, ideologically motivated, side projects,&#8221; Open The Books said.
Trump has attempted to remove identity-based &#8220;broader activity&#8221; mandates, but some recent grants have included them nonetheless, Open The Books found.
Universities are fighting the 15% overhead cap. But at a minimum, &#8220;universities, which have suffered reputational blows from hard-left campus activism and programmatic activities in recent years, could additionally volunteer to release data on overhead flows and amounts to regain the trust that taxpayer dollars are being put to good use,&#8221; the report said.
It is colleges &#8212; not the Trump administration &#8212; who have been anti-science by diverting limited funds, it concluded, saying &#8220;hijacking grant proposal requirements to further ideological goals&#8221; is &#8220;a secret tax on research and development.&#8221;
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-zealand-scrapped-all-social-science-funding-trump-could-too">New Zealand Scrapped All ‘Social Science’ Funding. Trump Could Too.</a>

University of Michigan Ann Arbor

How Universities Divert Federal Science Grants To DEI And Administrative Bloat

Education

Science

U.S.

A conservative watchdog accused federal bureaucrats of &#8220;hiding&#8221; key data from a government-funded study that would expose the questionable &#8220;science&#8221; behind putting gender-confused kids on puberty blockers. 
The American Accountability Foundation filed a <a href="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/NIH-FOIA-Complaint-to-file.pdf">suit</a> on Wednesday, alleging that the Department of Health and Human Services and the National Institutes of Health are withholding the release of data expected to significantly undermine transgender ideology. The data is from a government-funded study that the author admitted in an interview with The New York Times would hurt the case for placing young children on puberty blockers. 
&#8220;For over a year, HHS has been hiding a bombshell study that confirms what we&#8217;ve known all along: transgender therapy is a failure,” American Accountability Foundation President Tom Jones told The Daily Wire. “The lead researcher herself admitted that the findings challenge the effectiveness of these drugs. HHS bureaucrats are playing woke political games, ignoring science and common sense.”
The American Accountability Foundation first requested the data from the $9.7 million project after the Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/23/science/puberty-blockers-olson-kennedy.html">published</a> a story on October 23, 2024, that featured researcher Johanna Olson-Kennedy admitting that she had delayed publishing the effects of puberty blockers on children due to political concerns. Olson-Kennedy told The Times that the data did not show better mental outcomes for children placed on puberty blockers. 
Five days later, the American Accountability Foundation submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to get the data. However, the response came with significant redactions that obscured important data points, the suit filed in the District of Columbia said.  
“Though the NIH sent a response and produced some records in November 2024, NIH’s production appeared incomplete, as it didn’t include Dr. Olson-Kennedy’s data and contained redactions throughout. NIH’s response also appeared incomplete and insufficient because it didn’t justify any of the redactions, nor did it explain how the search was conducted to find responsive records pertaining to the data set,&#8221; the suit said. 
Join us now during our exclusive Deal of the Decade. Get everything for $7 a month. Not as fans. As fighters. Go to <a href="http://dailywire.com/Subscribe" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DailyWire.com/Subscribe</a> to join now.
Jones filed an appeal of the redactions on January 6, 2025, but says that the issue has not yet been resolved. The suit says that HHS and the NIH have violated federal records laws in their handling of the request. 
Specific records that have been redacted include the names of researchers who aided in the project, their background, and information on the compensation they received from the government. 
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-989261" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-21-Oct-2025-04-52-PM-4977.jpg" alt="" width="2560" height="1440" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-21-Oct-2025-04-52-PM-4977.jpg 2560w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-21-Oct-2025-04-52-PM-4977-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-21-Oct-2025-04-52-PM-4977-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-21-Oct-2025-04-52-PM-4977-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-21-Oct-2025-04-52-PM-4977-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-21-Oct-2025-04-52-PM-4977-2048x1152.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></div>
Also redacted are demographic information and other data points about the kids who were put on puberty blockers. That data is redacted for “proprietary info,” while some is left out with the reason, “redacted by agreement.”
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-989279" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-21-Oct-2025-05-06-PM-5619-1.jpg" alt="" width="2560" height="1440" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-21-Oct-2025-05-06-PM-5619-1.jpg 2560w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-21-Oct-2025-05-06-PM-5619-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-21-Oct-2025-05-06-PM-5619-1-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-21-Oct-2025-05-06-PM-5619-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-21-Oct-2025-05-06-PM-5619-1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-21-Oct-2025-05-06-PM-5619-1-2048x1152.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></div>
The suit said that the AAF opposed the vague redactions and “objected to the adequacy of NIH’s search. Specifically, AAF requested a copy of the data to which Dr. Olson referred. The FOIA coordinator’s response said nothing about how the search was conducted, whether such data are being withheld, and, if they are being withheld, why they are being withheld.”
HHS Press Secretary Emily Hilliard told The Daily Wire the agency does not comment on pending litigation, but that it was &#8220;committed to protecting children from being harmed by puberty blockers.&#8221;
A <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.05.14.25327614v1.full-text">preprint version</a> of Olson-Kennedy’s study appears to be available, but it has not yet been peer reviewed. Olson-Kennedy and her co-authors claim in that version that their research shows that “youth demonstrated both stability and improvement in emotional and mental health over 24 months.”
The American Accountability Foundation believes that all the data documenting the study should be made available so it can be independently analyzed.
“We&#8217;re fighting back, suing HHS to force them to follow the law and release this truth,” Jones said. “The American people deserve to know what&#8217;s being hidden by the radical left!&#8221;

Supreme Court Considers Tennessee’s Ban On Treatments For Transgender Minors

‘Woke’ Government Bureaucrats ‘Hiding’ Crucial Data On Blockbuster Trans Study, Watchdog Says

'Woke' Government Bureaucrats Withholding Data On Blockbuster Trans Study, Watchdog Says

Department of Health and Human Services

Trump Tells Pregnant Women To Avoid Tylenol Over Autism Fear

NIH Chief Jay Bhattacharya On DEI, Tylenol, And The Basis Of Truth In Science

COVID

Health Care

interview

Isabel Brown

Jay Bhattacharya

Tylenol

Vaccines

A week ago, President Donald Trump <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/dariosabaghi/2025/08/11/trump-says-marijuana-rescheduling-will-be-decided-within-weeks/">said</a> that he would soon decide whether to move cannabis from Schedule I to III for purposes of the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 (CSA), which would take marijuana out of the category of drugs that cannot be used for any purpose. Doing so would be a huge mistake. Huge.
Congress placed cannabis in Schedule I — the category for drugs that have no legitimate medical use, that are potentially addictive, and have no safe use even under a physician’s supervision — when it passed the CSA 55 years ago. While Congress empowered the U.S. Attorney General, after consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, to reschedule cannabis, in the ensuing half-century, no Republican or Democratic attorney general has done so, and no court has ruled that they must do so.
In 2023, however, cannabis advocates finally found a friend. Admiral Rachel L. Levine, HHS Assistant Secretary for Health under President Biden, <a href="http://www.jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/article-abstract/2834954">recommended</a> that Attorney General Merrick Garland transfer cannabis into Schedule III. To justify that conclusion, Levine invented a newfangled test that relied heavily on the fact that multiple states have adopted medical cannabis programs. As a matter of law, that rationale is wrong for multiple reasons.
First, Congress could not have been clearer that it is the exclusive responsibility of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), not the states, to decide whether a drug is safe, effective, and uniform. Levine’s rationale effectively and unlawfully transfers decision-making authority from the FDA to the states.
Second, the FDA has never approved the botanical form of cannabis as a safe, effective, and uniformly made drug. The FDA has approved the synthesis of compounds found in the plant by legitimate pharmaceutical companies, but has not approved the interstate distribution of the cannabis plant enjoyed by Cheech and Chong and Harold and Kumar fans.
Third, the FDA could not find that the cannabis plant is safe, effective, and uniformly made.
Start with its safety. The cannabis sold today is <a href="https://www.congress.gov/116/meeting/house/110381/witnesses/HHRG-116-IF14-Wstate-VolkowN-20200115.pdf">far more powerful</a> than the version smoked at Woodstock. At that time, the tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content — the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis — was 3-6%. Now, some concentrated cannabis products can have a 90% THC content. That difference is like comparing near beer to grain alcohol.
Growing evidence also links cannabis use to a host of <a href="https://www.congress.gov/116/meeting/house/110381/witnesses/HHRG-116-IF14-Wstate-VolkowN-20200115.pdf">adverse physical outcomes</a>, such as oral, head, and neck cancers; cardiovascular disorders; pulmonary disease; and numerous adverse psychological effects, such earlier onset of psychosis; reduced IQ; childhood poisonings; amotivational syndrome; increased school absenteeism; and a reduced likelihood of graduating high school, enrolling in a university, or completing higher degree requirements. Heavy cannabis users and people who begin its use as minors and continue into adulthood are particularly <a href="https://www.congress.gov/116/meeting/house/110381/witnesses/HHRG-116-IF14-Wstate-VolkowN-20200115.pdf">susceptible</a> to these harms.
Plus, botanical cannabis can be adulterated with a host of dangerous, unhealthy, or downright disgusting contaminants. Dr. Nora Volkow, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, told Congress in 2020 that “individuals across the country are using cannabis strains and extracts that have not undergone the rigorous clinical trials required to show that they are safe and effective for medical use, and are not regulated for consistency or quality.”
As I explained in an <a href="https://www.heritage.org/sites/default/files/2023-08/SR275.pdf">earlier article</a>, among the “hodgepodge” of dangerous contaminants found in the cannabis sold today are E. coli, fungi, mold, toxins, hazardous chemical solvents such as butane and propane, pesticides, heavy metals (such as arsenic, lead, and mercury), and other harmful and disgusting substances such as formaldehyde and insects. The FDA would never allow such contaminants to be present in any drug sold to the public.
Cannabis can also lead to physical dependence in users. Heavy or long-term use can lead a person to develop a tolerance to THC, requiring ever greater quantities of the chemical to experience the same euphoria. As drug policy experts Wayne Hall and Rosalie Pacula have explained, there is a 10% risk of addiction for people who have ever used cannabis, a 20-33% for people who use it more frequently, and a 50% risk — &#8220;<a href="https://www.heritage.org/sites/default/files/2023-08/SR275.pdf">a coin flip</a>” — for people who use it daily. Driving while stoned can, of course, lead to motor vehicle accidents that maim or kill pedestrians or other drivers and their passengers.
Keep in mind that the FDA has <a href="http://www.heritage.org/sites/default/files/2023-08/SR275.pdf">never</a> given approval for a drug to be smoked. Why? There is no uniform depth or length of any one inhalation, and no uniform number of inhalations that users follow. Moreover, the nation concluded over 60 years ago that smoking burnt carbon products damages a smoker’s health, which explains why major medical institutions such as the American Medical Association, the U.S. National Institutes of Health, and the Royal College of Physicians have <a href="http://www.heritage.org/sites/default/files/2023-08/SR275.pdf">not</a> recommended smoking as a legitimate drug delivery system.
The raw cannabis plant also is not “effective” for purposes of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Only a handful of controlled studies have examined whether pot can be used as a legitimate treatment for disease or injury; the results are <a href="https://www.law.georgetown.edu/public-policy-journal/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2019/09/17-2-Larkin-Madras.pdf">inadequate</a> to draw any scientific conclusion.
The most common justification offered is that its psychoactive calming effect makes it a legitimate analgesic alternative for pain. But that argument is medically <a href="https://www.law.georgetown.edu/public-policy-journal/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2019/09/17-2-Larkin-Madras.pdf">unsound</a>. Cannabis is too weak to substitute for opioids as a treatment for severe pain — indeed, it hinders cessation of opioid use by anyone trying to kick an opioid <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4127123/pdf/nihms609765.pdf">dependency</a> — and scientific proof that THC is a valid treatment for lower levels of pain is also lacking.
To be sure, smoking a joint can get you “high,” but that is not the test for a medicine’s effectiveness. As Dr. Peter Bach, Director of the Center for Health Policy and Outcomes at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/if-weed-is-medicine-so-is-budweiser-11547770981?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=ASWzDAh7LaDEYv_vcqs-izvRtTLHvE4_TMMU_qu3NyDxy9OXughPlX3zaBL-&amp;gaa_ts=689c8e99&amp;gaa_sig=tzI2Ti78lH5zRhqIjd3w0ZVcT308pAa8r1GA3Re1URauoN8dYXnoBs5EqZYAmoitDwKaFsuYPpeZooGzKZ9AwA%3D%3D">explained</a>, “[E]very intoxicant would pass that sort of test because you don’t experience pain as acutely when you are high. If weed is a pain reliever, so is Budweiser.”
Finally, the cannabis plant is not a <a href="http://www.heritage.org/sites/default/files/2023-08/SR275.pdf">uniformly made product</a>. As Brian Thomas and Mahmoud ElSohly <a href="http://www.heritage.org/sites/default/files/2023-08/SR275.pdf">explained</a> in their book The Analytical Chemistry of Cannabis, “The number of parameters on which cannabis can vary is enormous,” and differs according to “strain, growing conditions, harvesting methods and handling,” to “storage and processing of the raw material to combining them with a wide variety of foods and other excipients in manufacturing, and to “methods of administration (eating, smoking, ‘vaping,’ applying to mucous membranes)” and so forth.
Botanical cannabis also varies according to potency and the presence of cannabinoids (i.e., biochemically active compounds), which tends to <a href="http://www.heritage.org/sites/default/files/2023-08/SR275.pdf">offset or moderate</a> the potential adverse effects of high THC consumption, such as anxiety, cognitive impairment, amotivational syndrome, dependence or addiction, and psychosis.
In sum, the Levine recommendation from 2023 is wrong as a matter of law and medically unsound, indeed dangerous. If the President truly wants to Make America Healthy Again, he should reject that recommendation.
* * *
Paul J. Larkin is the John, Barbara &amp; Victoria Rumpel Senior Legal Research Fellow at The Heritage Foundation.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Trump Administration Considers Reclassifying Marijuana As A Less Dangerous Drug

Dude, Rescheduling Cannabis Downwards Would Be A Huge Mistake. Huge.

addiction

Congress

Drugs

Federal Government

Marijuana

An Illinois medical school that rakes in millions of taxpayer dollars operates a gender clinic that peddles suspect treatments to minors.
The Southern Illinois University School of Medicine has been <a href="https://taggs.hhs.gov/Detail/RecipDetail?arg_EntityId=PlNjsfJ%2FhuFyRnIQqjoNjQ%3D%3D">issued</a> nearly $3 million in federal funds this year and received another $6.4 million in 2024. The school <a href="https://www.siumed.edu/centers-family-medicine">owns</a> and <a href="https://www.siumed.org/treatment/gender-equity-and-transgender-clinic">operates</a> a the Gender Equity and Transgender Clinic, which offers “gender affirming hormone therapy” and provides referrals for the surgical removal of breasts and other genital surgeries.
“The clinic provides trauma-informed, gender-affirming health care services to transgender and gender-diverse individuals,” the clinic’s <a href="https://www.siumed.org/treatment/gender-equity-and-transgender-clinic#Services_offered">website</a> says. “The team values each individual person and their unique needs and characteristics.”
The website also claims that puberty blockers and cross-sex homes can be reversed, but should be administered to “give a child time to decide what treatments are right for them in addressing their gender presentation moving forward.”
“Puberty blockers are not permanent. When they are stopped, puberty continues normally,” the website says. 
Dr. Jared Ross, a senior fellow with Do No Harm, told The Daily Wire that the claims about puberty blockers being reversible were “absurd.” He said that there was data showing that bone density, especially in the hip and spine, were permanently decreased because of the procedures. 
“Puberty doesn&#8217;t just continue normally,” he said. “There are only so many years of pubertal development. And if you interfere with puberty during that time, you don&#8217;t get to make it up later.  Those are lost years of growth and development.”
The clinic also claims that putting men on estrogen and women on testosterone causes “changes in the body that would reverse upon stopping the treatment.”
Ross said that cross-sex hormones will often cause changes that don’t reverse. For example, men on estrogen will develop breasts and have body fat redistribution while females on testosterone will often have changes to their voice that can’t be undone.
Southern Illinois University School of Medicine takes millions in federal funding every year. This year, the school has taken $1.2 million in National Institutes of Health funding and $2.5 million in Health Resources and Services Administration funding. 
Sample grants <a href="https://taggs.hhs.gov/Detail/RecipDetail?arg_EntityId=PlNjsfJ%2FhuFyRnIQqjoNjQ%3D%3D">awarded</a> from 2025 include $1.6 million to fund its health center as a whole and specific funds to research topics like opioids, behavioral health, and drug abuse. 
Since 2009, the institution has taken at least $3.6 million per year in grant funding. 
<div id="attachment_947763" style="width: 2585px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-947763" class="size-full wp-image-947763" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-15-at-10.23.31%E2%80%AFAM.png" alt="" width="2575" height="1072" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-15-at-10.23.31%E2%80%AFAM.png 2575w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-15-at-10.23.31%E2%80%AFAM-300x125.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-15-at-10.23.31%E2%80%AFAM-1024x426.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-15-at-10.23.31%E2%80%AFAM-768x320.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-15-at-10.23.31%E2%80%AFAM-1536x639.png 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-15-at-10.23.31%E2%80%AFAM-2048x853.png 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 2575px) 100vw, 2575px" />USASpending.gov</div>
The SIU Family Medicine Center, where the gender clinic is housed, is also a Federally Qualified Health Center, a designation that allows it to take money from Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. 
In January, President Donald Trump <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/protecting-children-from-chemical-and-surgical-mutilation/">directed</a> his cabinet to take “appropriate steps to ensure that institutions receiving Federal research or education grants end the chemical and surgical mutilation of children.” The administration has since pressured hospital officials across the country to stop performing transgender procedures on children. 
Southern Illinois School of Medicine did not respond to requests for comment on how many minor patients it has in the gender clinic or whether it has been impacted by the executive order.
The clinic also promote a series of radical activist organizations, including one group that distributes free “trans needles” on the basis of race. 
The <a href="https://transneedles.org/">organization</a>, Trans Needle Exchange, is a “mail-based service providing free HRT needle supplies for trans folk who cannot access or afford their own.” Currently, the organization only sends needles to transgender-identifying people who are black. 
There are two separate Google request forms on the organizations’ website: one for black people, and one for everyone else. The form for black people says that it is “for BLACK TRANS FOLKS ONLY” and asks what kind of needle supplies are needed. The form also has checkbox where you can mark if you are black. 
<div id="attachment_947775" style="width: 2570px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-947775" class="size-full wp-image-947775" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/MixCollage-16-Jul-2025-11-00-AM-3932-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="2560" height="1280" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/MixCollage-16-Jul-2025-11-00-AM-3932-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/MixCollage-16-Jul-2025-11-00-AM-3932-300x150.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/MixCollage-16-Jul-2025-11-00-AM-3932-1024x512.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/MixCollage-16-Jul-2025-11-00-AM-3932-768x384.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/MixCollage-16-Jul-2025-11-00-AM-3932-1536x768.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/MixCollage-16-Jul-2025-11-00-AM-3932-2048x1024.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" />Trans Needle Exchange</div>
The form for white people currently doesn’t allow anything to be filled out, but says, “we are currently on hiatus and not taking new submissions.”
Point of Pride, another<a href="https://www.pointofpride.org/free-femme-shapewear"> organization</a> promoted by the clinic gives out free “chest binders” devices to compress the female chest to make it more masculine and distributes so-called “femme shapewear.”
A third organization promoted by the clinic is <a href="https://translifeline.org/microgrants/gender-affirming-hair-removal/">Trans Lifeline</a>, which give grants for transgender-identifying people to pay for hair removal — 60% of which are reserved for black people.
The clinic also promotes WPATH, a radical organization that has promoted transgender procedures on kids. A review from the Department of Health and Human Services condemned the reliance of many American health care providers on WPATH.
The gender clinic also notes that it is partnered with the Transgender and Gender Diverse Wellness and Equity Program, operated by the Illinois Department of Human Services and the Public Health Institute of Metropolitan Chicago. 
A previous Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/med-school-caught-rejecting-white-and-asian-applicants-with-better-scores-than-minorities-it-accepts">report</a> revealed that the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine admits black and Hispanic students with lower average MCAT scores and GPAs than the average scores of white and Asian students it rejects despite the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn affirmative action.

A girl holds the Transgender Pride flag during the pride

Taxpayer-Funded Medical School Promotes ‘Reversible’ Puberty Blockers For Kids

Illinois

transgender surgery

After decades of investing in life science breakthroughs, from biotech platforms to diagnostic innovations, I’ve seen what’s possible when bold ideas meet real backing. I’ve also seen what happens when bureaucracy gets in the way. Nearly $52 billion flows through the National Institutes of Health each year — taxpayer money entrusted to one of the world’s most important engines of biomedical progress. It begs a tough question: Is the NIH delivering what it promises? In my opinion, not yet.
Discovery today moves faster than ever, but the NIH struggles to keep pace — not from lack of talent or mission, but because of outdated systems, fragmented structure, and a risk-averse culture. This isn’t a partisan issue. It’s not about dismantling anything. It’s about upgrading an essential institution to work the way science works: fast, open, collaborative, and accountable. Under Dr. Jay Bhattacharya’s leadership, with his courage and clear-eyed vision, we’re closer than ever to meaningful reform.
The NIH’s 27 institutes and centers often function in isolation, duplicating work and missing chances to collaborate. In 2024, $9 billion went to indirect costs like admin overhead — paperwork, not pipettes or Petri dishes. Rep. Cathy McMorris proposed streamlining to 15 centers, a plan that ought to be seriously considered. Merging overlapping fields, say, translational medicine and biomedical imaging, would sharpen focus and accelerate progress. It would help the NIH act like a modern, integrated organization, not a loose confederation of silos. Let scientists spend their time in the lab, not in grant-cycle purgatory.
<div id="attachment_946227" style="width: 879px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-946227" class="size-large wp-image-946227" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/GettyImages-2214721636-869x576.jpg" alt="WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 12: National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Jay Bhattacharya speaks alongside President Donald Trump during a press conference in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on May 12, 2025, in Washington, DC. During the event, President Trump signed an executive order aimed at reducing the cost of prescription drugs and pharmaceuticals by 30% to 80%. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)" width="869" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/GettyImages-2214721636-869x576.jpg 869w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/GettyImages-2214721636-300x199.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/GettyImages-2214721636-768x509.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/GettyImages-2214721636.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 869px) 100vw, 869px" />Andrew Harnik/Getty Images</div>
Public funding comes with public accountability, and the NIH has work to do. Concerns over inadequate responses to research misconduct, opaque grant reviews, and questionable international ties — like those linked to risky pathogen studies — damage credibility and slow progress. What’s needed isn’t punishment but clarity. Reforms to tighten oversight, simplify peer review, and flag repeat issues will protect the science and the people behind it. The American public is generous in funding medical research. It’s time to be just as generous with the truth.
In my years as a venture capitalist, I’ve learned that real innovation comes from unexpected places — outsiders, first-time founders, scientists chasing questions no one else asks. But the NIH’s grant system favors the safe route, funding incremental research while visionary proposals, like a novel approach to Alzheimer’s, get passed over. Put more generalists and cross-disciplinary thinkers on peer review panels. Train reviewers to recognize high-risk/high-reward ideas. Carve out funding for newcomers applying for the first time. We can’t solve 21st-century problems if we’re afraid to back 21st-century thinkers.
The scientific landscape has changed — AI decodes protein structures, organ-on-chip tech replaces animal testing, wearables guide patient care. Yet the NIH uses tools and timelines built for another era. The new public access policy, requiring funded studies to be shared freely, is a good start. But modernizing how we evaluate, fund, and share research is overdue. AI-driven grant reviews and real-time data platforms could match the global pace of discovery. If we want to compete with China and Europe, we need to move faster.
Despite its massive budget, the NIH sends disproportionate funding to elite institutions. In 2023, half of all grants went to just 10 states. Great science can come from a fresh PhD in Idaho or a tenured lab in Iowa, but without grant caps, geographic diversity, and fair review standards, those ideas never get a shot. America doesn’t have a monopoly on good ideas. Let’s stop acting like it does.
Are all reform proposals perfect? No. They’ll need input from scientists, policymakers, and patients who count on the results. Ignoring the problem, though, is reckless. This isn’t about tearing down the NIH; it’s about retooling it for today’s challenges. I came to this country believing in what it stood for. I’ve backed companies that pushed the limits of healthcare. I believe American science is the best in the world, but it needs a system that doesn’t hold it back. Let’s build an NIH that earns trust, funds bold ideas, and turns the best thinking into real-world cures. It’s time we let science lead. 
* * *
Guy Paul Nohra is co-founder of Alta Partners, a leading Venture Capital firm in life sciences, funding over 150 companies in the healthcare/life sciences sector since 1996 through eight Venture Capital funds.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

HHS Secretary Kennedy Holds News Conference On Synthetic Dyes In Food Supply

Paperwork And Petri Dishes: It’s Time To Reform The NIH And Let Science Lead

Paperwork And Petri Dishes: It's Time To Reform The NIH And Let Science Lead

Medical

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

What are the origins of &#8220;Trump Derangement Syndrome&#8221;? House Republicans would like scientists to find out.
Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH) introduced a bill directing the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to conduct or support research to &#8220;advance the understanding&#8221; of the phenomenon characterized by &#8220;intense emotional or cognitive reactions&#8221; to President Donald Trump.
The bill, titled the &#8220;Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) Research Act of 2025,&#8221; says &#8220;early documented references&#8221; emerged during Trump&#8217;s 2016 presidential campaign, including &#8220;certain media coverage amplifying polarized responses&#8221; to his rhetoric.
<a class="c-link" href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial&amp;utm_campaign=memorial&amp;utm_content=editorialmemorialday" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial&amp;utm_campaign=memorial&amp;utm_content=editorialmemorialday" data-sk="tooltip_parent">Memorial Day Sale – Get 40% Off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships</a>
However, the bill notes that its &#8220;precise origins remain understudied.&#8221; One of the research objectives listed in the legislation is to &#8220;identify the initial emergence or earliest documented cases (commonly referred to as &#8216;patient zero&#8217; or index cases) of TDS, including historical and social analyses to trace the onset of TDS.&#8221;
Known for his bombastic personality and commentary, Trump has long been a polarizing figure with a large number of supporters and critics. But some people have taken anti-Trump stances to such extremes as <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-derangement-syndrome-on-steroids-msnbc-contributor-trump-crime-cult-wanted-people-to-die" target="_blank" rel="noopener">warning</a> there is a &#8220;Trump crime cult&#8221; wanting &#8220;people to die&#8221; and, in Congress, offering perpetual impeachment proposals.
“It’s a day that ends in ‘-Y’, which means liberal Democrats are again trying to impeach [the president] for delivering the will of the people,” Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) recently said in response to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/democrat-unveils-7-articles-of-impeachment-against-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">yet another</a> impeachment bid. “TDS is strong. MAGA is stronger.”
There&#8217;s also the issue of violence. Last year, the situation took a dark turn when two assassination attempts were made against Trump as he campaigned for a second term in the White House.
Davidson&#8217;s bill also calls for an inquiry into psychological or behavioral impacts of TDS, contributing factors ranging from media exposure to political polarization, as well as potential interventions, coping mechanisms, and strategies to mitigate the effects of TDS.
&#8220;TDS has divided families, the country, and led to nationwide violence—including two assassination attempts on President Trump. The TDS Research Act would require the NIH to study this toxic state of mind, so we can understand the root cause and identify solutions,&#8221; Davidson said in a <a href="https://davidson.house.gov/2025/5/rep-warren-davidson-introduces-the-trump-derangement-syndrome-tds-research-act-of-2025" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>.
He added: &#8220;Instead of funding ludicrous studies such as giving methamphetamine to cats or teaching monkeys to gamble for their drinking water, the NIH should use that funding to research issues that are relevant to the real world.&#8221;
Rep. Barry Moore (R-AL) is an early co-sponsor of the bill.
&#8220;Trump Derangement Syndrome has become an epidemic on the Left,” Moore said. “Some individuals who suffer from Trump Derangement Syndrome have participated in nationwide political and social unrest, even trying to assassinate President Trump twice. Rep. Davidson’s common-sense bill will use already appropriated funds on an NIH study that can make a difference.&#8221;
Davidson&#8217;s bill orders the NIH director to collaborate with the heads of other federal agencies, academic institutions, and other organizations. After two years, the NIH director must report to Congress on the progress of the research, any findings on the initial emergence or long-term effects of TDS, and recommendations for more research or public health actions.
The legislation, if passed into law, would use existing NIH resources and not require additional spending, according to Davidson&#8217;s office.

President Donald Trump

GOP Bill Tasks NIH With Finding ‘Patient Zero’ Of ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’

Politics

Trump Derangement Syndrome

U.S. House of Representatives

Dr. Jay Bhattacharya was confirmed Tuesday night by the Senate in a party-line vote to lead the National Institutes of Health.
The Senate voted 53-47 to confirm Bhattacharya with all Republicans supporting his nomination and every Democrat voting against confirming the Stanford School of Medicine medical professor. Bhattacharya has promised to bring more accountability to the NIH, which oversees tens of billions of dollars in federal grant dollars. 
“The mission of the NIH is to address the health needs the American people have and to expand life expectancy of the American people. And we have not achieved that. It’s flatlined,” Bhattacharya <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/jay-bhattacharya-promises-to-bring-accountability-to-nih-after-covid-failure" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> during his confirmation hearing earlier this month before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.
Bhattacharya widely rose to prominence during the COVID pandemic, when he was a sharp critic of the government-imposed lockdowns and was one of the first to express concerns about the safety and efficacy of vaccine mandates. During COVID, he was an advisor to Florida, aiding Governor Ron DeSantis in the reopening of the Sunshine State. 
“Science should be an engine for freedom. Knowledge and freedom … it shouldn’t be pushing mandates for vaccines like the COVID vaccines,” Bhattacharya said during his confirmation hearing. “The role of the scientist should not be to say that you can’t send your kid to school for two years.”
In his nomination announcement, President Donald Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-nominates-dr-jay-bhattacharya-to-lead-nih" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that Bhattacharya would work alongside Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to “Make America Healthy Again” and “restore the NIH to a Gold Standard of Medical Research as they examine the underlying causes of, and solutions to, America’s biggest Health challenges, including our Crisis of Chronic Illness and Disease.”
Bhattacharya also promised during his confirmation hearing that he would support experiments that take different approaches to an issue, saying that much of the established scientific community has failed to provide satisfactory answers. 
On Tuesday, the Senate <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-names-marty-makary-to-lead-food-and-drug-administration" target="_blank" rel="noopener">also voted</a> 56-44 to confirm Dr. Marty Makary to head up the Food and Drug Administration. Democrat Senators Dick Durbin (IL), Maggie Hassan (NH), and Jeanne Shaheen (NH) joined Republicans in voting for Makary. 
When he nominated Makary, Trump said that he would work with RFK Jr. to “properly evaluate harmful chemicals poisoning our Nation’s food supply and drugs and biologics being given to our Nation’s youth, so that we can finally address the Childhood Chronic Disease Epidemic.”

Menu

NIH