President Trump’s seemingly unwarranted and unconstitutional financial attack on the National Institute of Health and institutes of higher learning including Washington University St. Louis has a direct impact on the health and wellbeing of African Americans.
Dr. Will Ross, Alumni Endowed Professor of Medicine, Nephrology and associate Dean for Diversity at Washington University School of Medicine, says Trump’s cuts to NIH “will not only hobble critical biomedical research and stifle innovation, but will also impede the ability of investigators to address some of the long-standing health issues in the African American community.”
“The cutting-edge advances in diabetes care and hypertension, two major causes of poor health and disability among African Americans, will be stalled as we continue to see disproportionate deaths from these preventable diseases,” said Ross.
Within the last year, Washington University has launched or completed NIH funded medical studies that benefit all Americans, including several that are of unique importance to the Black community.
A recently completed study focused on children with neurological conditions and found that only 50% of Black patients completed genetic testing within a year of doctors referring patients for such testing, compared with 75% of white patients. The results indicate the disparity is due to differences in the type of health insurance kids have and other barriers to accessing care.
The findings published Feb. 12, 2025, in the journal Neurology, highlight the difficulties that patients — particularly Black patients — face in accessing genetic testing to receive accurate diagnoses, the researchers said.
According to Washington University, the study has led to a change in practice at WashU Medicine’s pediatric neurology clinic, where a genetic counselor has been embedded to help address some of the access challenges uncovered by the study.
While the number of COVID cases has fallen in the U.S., it still circulates and causes significant illnesses and deaths. With higher rates of mortality on African Americans.
A nasal vaccine for COVID-19, based on technology developed at Washington University in St. Louis, will enter a phase 1 clinical trial in the U.S. after an investigational new drug application was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The trial will be sponsored and conducted by the NIH and is “a critical first step toward initiation of the phase 1 trial, planned for this spring.
Washington University School of Medicine has also received two large NIH grants to renew funding for the Human Pangenome Reference Sequencing Project, which began in 2019 with the goal of increasing the diversity of human genome sequences that are pooled into the widely used reference genome. A thorough representation of human genetic diversity can help researchers discover how genetic variation contributes to disease and perhaps offer new routes to innovative treatments.
Washington University researchers have conducted significant studies on human genome sequences from African Americans, particularly focusing on large-scale whole-genome sequencing projects to better understand genetic variations within this population, often in relation to diseases like inflammatory bowel disease, and to identify potential disparities in disease risk compared to other ethnicities; these studies are often conducted through the McDonnell Genome Institute at Washington University School of Medicine.
Funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the project “aims to accurately reflect the full range of human diversity worldwide, make the reference genome more useful to researchers and ensure that all people — regardless of their genetic ancestry — can benefit from the promise of precision medicine,” according to the university.
Ross said Washington University and other leading academic centers’ research touches many other aspects of Black healthcare including the higher maternal mortality rates and infant mortality rates, along with breast cancer and ovarian cancer in women.
“(Studies on) estimates that Black Americans have about twice the risk of Alzheimer’s Disease compared to white people, will be put on hold through the (funding) pause and ill-conceived cuts to NIH research payments,” said Ross.
The school reported in December 2024 it secured $683 million in research funding from the NIH in federal fiscal year 2024 – a record high.
This support – which places the school at No. 2 nationally in NIH funding for the second year in a row – “enables groundbreaking advances in the understanding, diagnosis and treatment of illnesses and propels its relentless pursuit of improvements in medical care.”
Over the past eight years, WashU Medicine has been the fastest growing of the top U.S. research-intensive medical institutions in NIH funding.
“Far too much still is unknown about human diseases,” said David H. Perlmutter, MD, executive vice chancellor for medical affairs, the George and Carol Bauer Dean of WashU Medicine, and the Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Distinguished Professor, said in a release announcing the funding record.
“Our research programs are designed to tackle the most vexing questions with state-of-the-art techniques and analytical methods and generate innovative answers that will substantially improve outcomes for our patients.
Ross added, “Our community and the American public in general will stand up for health and demand that NIH funding be restored.”