• Posted May 20, 2025

NIH Scientists Still Face Layoffs Despite RFK Jr.'s Reassurances

Some of the nation's top brain researchers are still facing layoffs, even after U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said no working scientists would be cut.

Last month, scientists at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) got layoff notices. NINDS is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The scientists were told they could keep working for a few more weeks, but their terminations have not been canceled, sources told CBS News. Their jobs are set to end on June 2.

"Most people believe we were reinstated because we got back to the office," one scientist told CBS News anonymously.

But that wasn't true.

"These 11 labs have about 100 staff, mainly young trainees whose careers will be severely disrupted," one researcher said.

Among the laid-off scientists is Richard Youle, who has worked at NIH since 1978. He is a distinguished investigator, a title reserved for the most respected researchers. Youle won the $3 million Breakthrough Prize in 2021 for his work on Parkinson’s disease.

After news of the layoffs came out, Youle received four job offers -- three from outside the U.S., according to a source.

"The world is ready to pounce and take our top scientists if we don’t fix this," the source said.

Ten other senior scientists at NINDS were also laid off, including experts in dopamine signaling and neurodegenerative disease. One of them, Dr. Ling-Gang Wu, received an award this year for his work on how brain cells communicate, CBS News added.

In a U.S. Senate hearing on May 14, Kennedy testified that only administrative staff had been cut.

"As far as I know, we have not fired any working scientists, the working scientists, the people who are actually doing science. There are some people who were scientists that were doing IT or administration, who did lose their jobs. But in terms of working scientists, our policy was to make sure none of them were lost and that that research continues," Kennedy said.

While layoffs at other agencies, like the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), were reversed before Kennedy's testimony, that hasn’t happened at NIH, CBS News said.

NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya had reportedly called the layoffs mistakes that would be reversed. But several weeks later, the scientists have not received any official notice that their jobs will be saved.

Other research groups were also affected. Layoffs hit NIH staff at the National Cancer Institute and the Office of Research Facilities. These teams helped maintain labs and oversaw safety, CBS News said. The cuts also gutted NIH's acquisitions office, which helps researchers get the supplies they need.

Laid-off scientists at the CDC also spoke out. 

"Perhaps [Kennedy] is unaware that his RIFs [reductions in force] have gutted scientists and front-line public health workers at CDC, the very people he vowed to protect," one researcher said.

More information

The American Association for the Advancement of Science has more on federal funding cuts to medical research.

SOURCE: CBS News, May 19, 2025