Another Columbia program slashed in funding lockout

A large research program into myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome, or ME/CFS, has been forced to shut down because of Trump administration cuts earlier this month to Columbia University's funding, one of its top researchers said.

The Columbia center, housed in the public health school, is one of few places in the country fully devoted to studying the disabling condition believed to affect millions of Americans, STAT's Isabella Cueto reports. It had been receiving funding from the NIH, which slashed about $250 million in grants to Columbia after Trump alleged the school failed to crack down on antisemitism.

The stalled studies include genetic and infectious disease research probing the causes of ME/CFS. They are the latest in a slew of cancelled studies after Columba's funding was pulled. More from Isa.

White house

MAHA maven joins White House

The Trump administration is adding Calley Means, a chronic disease entrepreneur and influential voice in the Make America Healthy Again movement, to its ranks. He'll be working as a part-time advisor to the White House, Means confirmed to STAT. Bloomberg first reported the news.

One of Means' first points of order is likely to be changing the formulations of infant formula, if his social media is any indication, Isa tells us. He touted HHS's new Operation Stork Speed as a "major initiative" to clean up and possibly remove ingredients like seed oils and glyphosate.

"This administration is putting a stake in the ground that the US will lead the world in the creation of healthy formulas for our babies," he wrote on X.

hospitals

Texas hospital grabs a lifeline

A hospital executive came out of retirement to save a rural Texas hospital from closing, Tara Bannow reports.

Ultimately, after numerous money-saving efforts, Ted Matthews, interim CEO of Anson General Hospital in Anson, a West-Central Texas town, made a last-ditch effort and applied for Anson General to be a new type of Rural Emergency Hospital.

But the decision can come with significant downsides. Read more from Tara on the pros and cons of following the route that Congress created in 2023 to keep rural hospitals afloat.

agency layoffs

DOGE bares its teeth at AHRQ

In Tuesday's newsletter, we reported that lawmakers are worried about massive layoffs at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Since then, I've spoken to current and former agency employees who provided some more details.

DOGE showed up at AHRQ on March 11, where they told agency leaders they plan to cut 80% to 90% of staff. That would effectively end the agency of about 300 employees, while technically leaving a shell of it in place, much like DOGE did to the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Employees had little notice. They had to decide whether to take buyout and early retirement offers by last Friday. Read more here about the research that could be lost.

global research

The global vacuum caused by U.S. aid cuts

The Trump administration's dismantling of foreign aid effectively triggered a mass layoff of health workers around the world — many of them in sub-Saharan Africa, according to STAT European correspondent Andrew Joseph. There, USAID and longtime HIV/AIDS initiatives, PEPFAR-funded programs for new and pregnant mothers, infectious disease control, and nutrition are now in limbo, with thousands of staff, and patients, left in the lurch.

Many are unsure where to turn to continue working in the fields to which they've devoted their careers. They're concerned about what will happen to the people they used to help, and about their own futures, STAT Europe Correspondent Andrew Joseph writes.

Andrew spoke to some of those workers, like Ntombi, a South African woman who worked in an HIV/AIDS clinic until she was abruptly told to end her work this January, leaving her no time to connect her patients with other resources. Read more.

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What we're reading

As U.S. punts on ultra-processed food, California seeks to ban 'particularly harmful' ones from school lunches, STAT
Trump administration says it's cutting $175 million in funding to University of Pennsylvania, CBS News
I helped declare the U.S. measles-free in 2000. I'm dismayed by where we are now, STAT
Colorado medical researchers lost grants to study vaccine hesitancy, Alzheimer's, Denver Post