Adelaide Tovar, a University of Michigan scientist who researches genes related to diabetes, used to feel like an impostor in a laboratory. Tovar, 32, grew up poor and was the first in her family to graduate from high school. During her first year in college, she realized she didn’t know how to study.
But after years of studying biology and genetics, Tovar finally got proof that she belonged. Last fall, the National Institutes of Health awarded her a prestigious grant. It would fund her research and put her on track to be a university professor and eventually launch a laboratory of her own.
“I felt like receiving the award was a form of acceptance, like I had finally made it,” Tovar said. “But I think many of us now fear that this is going to poison the rest of our careers.”
Tovar is one of nearly 200 young scientists across the nation whose research and job prospects have been jeopardized by the sudden termination of the NIH’s MOSAIC grant program, one of many ended by sweeping cuts across the federal scientific agencies. The grant was created by the first Trump administration to foster a new generation of diverse scientists in biomedical research, then defunded in the second Trump administration’s ongoing purge of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
In interviews with KFF Health News, Tovar and three other grant reci …