13 Renowned HIV Organizations Unite to Host Congressional Briefing Advocating for Restored NIH Funding
Invitation - Congressional Briefing July 9 2025
Agenda - Congressional Briefing - July 9
According to Grants Watch, as of early June 2025, 2,500 NIH grants have been terminated, representing over $9.5 billion in research funding with a notable impact on public health, diversity, and biomedical research. The National Institute for Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMH) and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) have faced the largest cuts, thwarting decades of research and biomedical innovation to end the HIV epidemic among communities of color. During the briefing, HIV research, policy, and program experts will highlight the public health research and economic gains from taxpayer dollars invested into NIH, and urge policymakers to restore the Congressionally-appropriated funding for HIV research and recommit to science-driven policy.
Key consequences of the NIH cuts include:
Disruption to Treatment and Care: Community clinics and programs serving vulnerable populations face reduced capacity and stalled innovation. Long-acting injectables, novel antiretrovirals, and aging-with-HIV research are all at risk.
Setbacks in Prevention: The development and equitable rollout of game-changing tools like PrEP, long-acting injectables, and HIV vaccines will slow dramatically—especially in communities where HIV transmission remains high.
Widening of Health Disparities: Funding cuts undermine culturally responsive interventions proven to reduce stigma, increase engagement, and close care gaps among Black, Latino, transgender, and low-income populations.
Threat to Long-Term Survivors: Aging individuals living with HIV face complex comorbidities and need targeted research. NIH cuts ignore the needs of a generation that survived the epidemic's worst years.
Harm to Local Economies and Research Workforce: Local Universities, community-based researchers, and frontline staff all over the country are losing jobs, partnerships, and momentum in their efforts to combat HIV.
“The staggering 42% budget cuts for FY 2026 would result in current funding being leveled at the year 2003-2004 levels, and would decimate many essential life-saving programs and research studies as well as the destruction of education and training for future investigators who will be unable to raise the mantle of future scientific research. Additionally, NIH’s FY2024 funding of $36.94 billion supported 407,782 jobs and generated $94.58 billion in economic activity nationwide - which translates to roughly $2.56 in economic activity for every $1 of NIH research funding. This isn't just a budget decision—it's a public health crisis in the making. Communities already bearing the brunt of the HIV epidemic—Black and Brown people, LGBTQ+ communities, older adults living with HIV, people who use drugs—will be the hardest hit. Researchers speaking at the event will provide information about resulting morbidity and mortality, said Lynda Dee, Co-founder and Executive Director of AIDS Action Baltimore. .
“The drastic NIH funding cuts imposed by the Administration are a threat to HIV medical advancements, treatment, prevention, and care—especially among the nation's most vulnerable communities. They undermine efforts to end the HIV epidemic that will reverse decades of hard-won progress in health equity, innovation, and access to care, causing increased sickness and death. These cuts also jeopardize national prevention efforts created by the former Trump Administration’s Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) initiative, which relies on NIH-supported data, research, and implementation strategies”, said Jeremiah Johnson, Executive Director of PrEP4All.
As of April 7, 2025, 28.7% of HIV grants, 24.4% of transgender grants, and 17.1% of COVID-19 grants have been terminated. More than 50% of the grants studying gender and sexual minorities have been terminated. Of the 669 total sexual minority grants cancelled or reduced by the NIH, at least 323 were focused on the health of sexual and gender minority groups. The canceled projects represent over $800 million in funding. These terminations are linked to the new administration's policies targeting equity-related grants and diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. The terminated grants cover a range of important health topics for the LGBTQ+ community, including studies on aging in older LGBTQ+ adults, Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia, mental health, including depression and self-harm among transgender teenagers, supportive caregiving for LGBTQ+ youth, HIV prevention, cancer, chronic kidney disease, and stillbirths among LGBTQ+ women.
“HIV research saved my life. I tested HIV positive in 1986; I was 21 years old and treated with AZT, an antiretroviral drug called azidothymidine, when it was approved in 1987. Subsequently, I was switched to new HIV drugs until resistance developed, and all the new medicines stopped working. I was diagnosed with AIDS in 1995, with just 20 T cells. It is only thanks to the research revolution of HIV drug combination therapy and potent protease inhibitors, and the continued HIV drug development, that I was able to resurrect from disease and death. Today, at 60 years old, I’m a part of the first cohort of an estimated 650,000 Americans over 50 years living and aging with HIV. Research tells us that older adults with HIV prematurely face additional comorbidities, which can disrupt adherence to HIV medications and viral load. My future lifetime depends on research to ensure new therapies and continued quality of care in the hoped-for frontier of life, characterized by healthy longevity,” said Moisés Agosto, Director of Treatment, NMAC.
Congressional Briefing Details
Date: Wednesday, July 9, 2025
Time: 2:00 to 3:30PM
Location: Dirksen Senate Office building, SD-G11
RSVP: https://bit.ly/nih-briefing-rsvp or email JGrabelle@aidsactionbaltimore.org
Briefing Lead Organizer: AIDS Action Baltimore
Created in 1987, AIDS Action Baltimore (AAB) is Maryland's oldest surviving AIDS service organization. AAB has had a multi-purpose mission for many years. While our organization was founded to provide financial assistance and support services to people with HIV (PHIV), we soon became involved in research and development, treatment advocacy, drug access issues and treatment literacy programs that benefit PHIV across the country. Locally, we provide community education and empowerment programs, linkage to HIV testing and care and conduct HIV prevention and treatment programs, including support groups for PHIV and at risk of HIV transmission that promote wellness and adherence to treatment and prevention medications.
Briefing Sponsors:
AIDS Action Baltimore
amfAR
AVAC
Health GAP
Human Rights Campaign Fund
HIV Medicine Association
Infectious Diseases Society of America
Latino Commission on AIDS
NMAC
PrEP4ALL
San Francisco AIDS Foundation
The Reunion Project
Treatment Action Group
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Pavni Guharoy
NMAC
+1 240-372-8394
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