NIH Employees Outline Concerns in ‘Bethesda Declaration’

On June 9, more than 340 scientists and staff at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) issued a statement criticizing their agency’s leadership for politicizing research. The “Bethesda Declaration,” which as of today includes 484 signatories, urges NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya and other leaders to reverse course on budget reductions, workforce terminations, elimination of research related to DEI, undermining of the peer review process, and instituting a blanket 15 percent indirect cost rate, among others. It is exceptionally rare for federally employees to publicly protest and criticize their own agency.

In response, an open letter in support of the Bethesda Declaration has been circulating among the extramural research community, garnering more 28,000 signatures at the time of this writing, including dozens of Nobel Laureates, members of Congress, former federal agency officials, and others. Additional signatures are being collected here.