As part of the Trump administration’s efforts to peel back Biden-era diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) requirements, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) rescinded the agency’s ‘Scientific Integrity Policy’ implemented under President Joe Biden.
A ‘Final Scientific Integrity Policy’ was unveiled by the Biden administration during the last few weeks of its term. The policy posited that DEI was an ‘integral’ part of ‘the entire scientific process,’ and pushed NIH’s chief scientist and top scientific integrity official to ‘promote agency efforts regarding diversity, equity and inclusion.’ It also instituted agency-wide policy directives ordering supervisors at the NIH to ‘support’ scientists and researchers who are ‘asexual’ or ‘intersex,’ while imploring NIH leadership to ‘confer with relevant offices’ when additional DEI expertise is needed.
In addition to the amended scientific integrity policy, the Biden administration also took other steps to infuse DEI into the scientific process throughout its term. This included compelling scientists seeking to work with the NIH to submit statements expressing their commitment to DEI, including when seeking certain grant funding for research projects.
‘The Biden administration weaponized NIH’s scientific integrity policy to inject harmful DEI and gender ideology into research,’ said Health and Human Services Department spokesperson, Andrew Nixon. ‘Rescinding this [scientific integrity] policy will allow NIH to restore science to its golden standard and protect the integrity of science.’
According to an HHS source, during the Biden administration, a member of NIH’s DEI office was placed on every search committee for scientists and leadership. The source also noted that under Biden, scientists who submitted work to the NIH’s ‘Board of Scientific Counselors,’ which oversees agency research, were also required to include a statement pledging their commitment to DEI.
The Biden administration also funded grants related to DEI, such as one for roughly $165,000 that was focused on ‘queering the curriculum’ for family medicine doctors to guide them in their treatment of transgender patients. A similar project sought to use taxpayer funds from NIH to instruct nurses on the standards of care from the World Professional Association of Transgender Health (WPATH).
WPATH’s standards of care for transgender patients, which support the use of puberty blockers, hormone therapy and gender-reassignment surgery for minors, have been rebuked globally. One controversial part of WPATH’s guidelines is the inclusion of ‘enuch’ as a valid gender-identity. Several European countries, such as the U.K., Sweden and Finland, have taken steps to steer clear of the treatment modalities suggested by WPATH.
Under Biden, the NIH also brought DEI activist Ibram Kendi to speak with more than 1,200 staff members about ‘anti-racism.’ In a recap of the 2022 speech, the NIH pointed out how Kendi ‘states unequivocally’ that ‘policies are either racist or antiracist.’
The Trump administration’s move to rescind the Biden-era scientific integrity policy follows other actions taken to extinguish DEI programs from the public and private sectors, calling such initiatives a civil rights violation.
In addition to slashing DEI programs at the NIH, Trump has also moved to slim down its workforce. Shortly after he took office, the president implemented a funding cap for facilities and administrative fees associated with NIH research to help clear room for additional projects.