President Donald Trump’s all-out effort to block federal funding for “transgender lunacy” has the potential to upend the clinical research industry, with one specific clause in one specific executive order already causing hospitals across the country to scramble their plans.
Trump’s order directs federal agencies to work with the Office of Management and Budget to “take appropriate steps” to withhold educational and research grants from medical institutions that do not commit to ending gender transition treatments, referring to it as “the chemical and surgical mutilation of children.” (The order defines “children” as any person younger than 19 years old).
NOTUS examined research project grants given by the National Institutes of Health in 2024 to over 80 medical institutions — both hospitals and schools — that offer gender-affirming care to evaluate what types of projects would be impacted by Trump’s executive order.