Maine
Opinion: NIH cuts will paralyze Maine’s biomedical research
The government recently announced an astonishing $4 billion cut to research institutions across the nation that have National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded programs.
Why should this matter to people in Maine when budget cuts are simultaneously occurring across all departments in the federal bureaucracy? It turns out extramural-funded research in Maine is a burgeoning economic enterprise.
NIH funds support biomedical research across Maine at The Jackson Laboratory, Maine Medical Center, MDI Biological Laboratory and the Universities of Maine and New England to the tune of $125 million in fiscal year 2024. In general, every $1 NIH invests results in $2.46 of economic activity.
Moreover, NIH-funded research has led to significant breakthroughs that improve human health in everything from infectious diseases to cancer. In addition, during 2023 alone, NIH funding in the United States supported over 400,000 jobs and generated nearly $93 billion in economic activity. How could this happen overnight and what exactly are these cuts?
Simply put, NIH research grants are awarded with two separate pots of money. The first is called the direct cost. That represents the money required to do the research, get the equipment and drugs for human and/or animal studies and pay investigators. The second pot is the indirect cost. That is what it takes an institution to perform those studies, i.e., support ancillary personnel and students, pay rent on research space, maintain and upgrade overall resources and equipment and safeguard human and animal studies through ongoing oversight and support.
No awarded grant could be done in a vacuum, hence the administrative or indirect costs are essential and generally are calculated to cost between 35-70% of the original grant award, depending on the institution.
The government has declared that indirect costs for all federally funded NIH grants would be 15%, a shocking reduction for every institution across the country, but particularly in Maine. Project 2025 advocated such a cut by citing waste and abuse from indirect costs, although no such documentation has been presented to support that generalization.
Moreover, NIH in a statement declared that medical research in universities such as Harvard, Yale and Johns Hopkins have huge endowments that can cover all the lost revenue. (For context, Harvard had a $53.2 billion endowment in the 2024 fiscal year.)
Even universities with major endowments will likely face challenges since many endowments are severely restricted in their spending. However, institutions in Maine are in a far more precarious position. We are a small state with limited state funds and no universities with the kinds of endowments mentioned by the NIH. And there is good reason why we should not leave top-notch research to institutions with giant endowments in a few well-funded states.
Here in Maine, we do first class biomedical research that saves lives and produces new breakthroughs in cancer, osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer’s, to name a few.
I have spent 40 years in clinical practice in Maine as an endocrinologist but also run a basic research laboratory and oversee multiple clinical trials funded by the NIH. I have worked at three of the five institutions in Maine that receive substantial NIH funding as well as serving on several NIH advisory committees.
So I can unequivocally state that loss of indirect revenues through these cuts will have a chilling effect on our Maine research enterprise. Small research institutions will suffer major job layoffs, and may not be able to accept further NIH funding without the means to carry those programs out. The economic fallout from job losses will be felt throughout the state.
Fortunately, all is not lost. We have two great senators from Maine, and both understand the nuances that come with large biomedical research grants.
Sen. Collins probably knows more about the NIH and its importance in finding breakthroughs for Alzheimer’s disease, cancer and diabetes from her 30y years of advocacy than any senator or representative in Congress. And she now chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee where NIH funding is determined. I call on her and all our representatives to reverse this poorly thought out decision and move forward so we can do the kind of work that all of us want to see happen to make our communities the healthiest they can be.
Many Maine municipalities will open cooling centers this week with the National Weather Service issuing a variety of heat advisories covering the next few days.
The Maine DEP also issued an air quality alert for Wednesday with ground-level ozone expected to reach levels that are unhealthy for sensitive groups.
All of York County, interior Cumberland and Androscoggin counties, and the southern half of Oxford County will fall under an extreme heat warning from 11 a.m. Wednesday to 8 p.m. Friday.
The warning calls for “dangerously hot conditions” that could feature heat index values of up to 110 degrees, with overnight lows only expected to fall into the 70s, according to the weather service’s office in Gray.
The rest of the state — save northern Aroostook, Piscataquis and Somerset counties — falls under a heat advisory from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Wednesday. However, the weather service has also placed much of the state under an extreme heat watch for Thursday.
Heat index values, which measure how hot it feels to the human body when relative humidity is combined with the air temperature, are expected to reach up to 104 degrees during the heat advisory period, the weather service warns. They could reach 110 degrees Thursday, when the extreme heat watch is in effect.
Northern Oxford and Franklin counties, and central Somerset County, can expect a heat index value of up to 99 degrees Wednesday, according to the weather service.
The weather service advises people to drink plenty of fluids, stay in air-conditioned rooms when possible, avoid extended periods in the sun and check up on relatives and neighbors. It also warns not to leave young children and pets in unattended vehicles, as “car interiors will reach lethal temperatures in a matter of minutes.”
Cooling Centers
The Maine Department of Environmental Protection has also issued an air quality alert from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Wednesday along the coast from Kittery to Acadia National Park. The agency warns that ground-level ozone concentrations are expected to reach levels that are unhealthy for sensitive groups.
Ozone levels may reach “moderate levels” further inland, according to the Maine DEP, including in all of Androscoggin and Kennebec counties, as well as parts of Cumberland, Knox, Lincoln, Penobscot, Sagadahoc, Waldo, Washington and York counties.
Elevated ozone levels can pose a risk to children, older adults and people suffering from respiratory or heart diseases, according to the Maine DEP. Anyone exerting themselves outdoors may also experience health effects, which could include coughing, shortness of breath, throat irritation and mild chest pain.
Ozone levels were already climbing in southern New England on Tuesday, according to the Maine DEP, and winds are expected to bring those conditions to Maine on Wednesday.
The Maine DEP recommends that vulnerable populations avoid strenuous outdoor activities, keep windows closed, and circulate indoor air with fans or air conditioners. Those with asthma are also advised to keep quick-relief medication handy.
Particle pollution levels are also expected to be moderate across the state on Wednesday due to wildfire smoke, the Maine DEP said in its announcement Tuesday. Wildfires in Colorado, which have claimed the lives of three firefighters, had burned nearly 90,000 acres as of Tuesday, according to the Denver Post.
Maine could face up to $50 million in penalties next year due to errors in its payments for federal food benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Newly released data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture find that Maine’s error rate last year was nearly 11%, the bulk of which were overpayments. That’s in line with the U.S. average. But starting in October of next year, states with error rates above 6% must cover a portion of the SNAP benefits.
Anna Korsen, executive director of Full Plates, Full Potential, said the overpayments aren’t fraud — they’re human error. She said this new cost-shifting policy enacted last year under the Trump administration further complicates the SNAP application process.
“Instead, we could make this program more accessible and more efficient,” Korsen said. “And that would reduce the number of errors and also ensure that Mainers who are eligible for SNAP have access to it.”
She’s urging Congress to delay or reverse the policy under the farm bill that’s currently under consideration.
Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services said it’s taking steps to reduce the error rate, including modernizing its systems and hiring an additional 40 eligibility specialists.
This story appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.
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