San Antonio’s top health research centers poised to lose $50 million in Trump NIH cuts

San Antonio’s two crown-jewel bioscience research centers face the loss of nearly $50 million in annual research money if a Trump administration policy change for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is allowed to go into effect, the Express-News reports.   

The proposed rule change, now challenged in federal court, would slap a 15% cap on the money the NIH is able to provide for labs to cover “indirect costs” that don’t directly fund research, among them equipment repairs, facility expansions and certain salaries. 

Dr. Larry Schlesinger, CEO of  San Antonio’s Texas Biomedical Research Institute, told the daily that the spending limit, if allowed to stand, will have “a longstanding detrimental effect” on the nation’s health and diminish its role in biomedical research.

Texas Biomed would lose an estimated $13 million, or 15% of its annual operating revenue, in the first year the cuts go into effect, according to the Express-News report. Meanwhile, UT Health San Antonio, the city’s top recipient of NIH funds, stands to lose $32 million to $35 million.

“This decision, if it stands, will have longstanding impacts, not just for Texas Biomed, but for generations to come,” Schlesinger told the daily. “We truly risk losing our international standing as a leader in bettering public health, the envy of the world, and attracting the best minds to the healthcare and biosciences field.”

Meanwhile, Lone Star State Republicans continue to cheer on the Trump White House’s draconian cuts.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, for example, has repeatedly railed against federal science funding, claiming it supports “neo-Marxist class warfare propaganda.” The state’s junior GOP senator claims more than 20% of the National Science Foundation’s $9 billion budget backs “left-wing ideological crusades” disguised as legitimate research.

For his part, Sen. John Cornyn last week told Texas Tribune reporter Matthew Choi that Texas constituents should bite the bullet on budget cuts because Trump’s 1.5% margin in the 2024 election constitutes a “mandate.”
“This is not an easy process, as you know, because there’s a lot of people who like the government just the way it is and don’t want any change,” Cornyn said. “But I believe that the Nov. 5 election was a mandate.”

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This article appears in Feb 19-25, 2025.