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Unfortunately, the union
has rejected our offer as

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the fall semester is poised
to begin. Wisconsin's major

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research university,
UW-Madison, is grappling

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with the potential of tens
of millions of dollars of

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cuts to federal funding,
most of it cuts to National

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Institutes of Health
research funding. But the

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cuts span other disciplines,
like money from the

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Department of Energy, the
National Science Foundation

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and the Department of
Defense. What does this

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mean for the state's
flagship university? We

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check in with the senior
associate dean for basic

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research, biotechnology and
graduate studies at the UW

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School of Medicine and
Public Health. John Audia.

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Thanks very much for being
here.

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>> So, all told, what is
the hit to federal research

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funding at UW-Madison as it
stands now?

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enormous delays in a lot of
funds that we were

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expecting to arrive on
campus nationwide. That

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amounts to about $5 billion
in shortfall in NIH funding

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to go to research
institutions. We've been

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fortunate in some senses,
in that many of our grants

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have come through. However,
many more are sitting,

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waiting where there's an
expectation for months. I

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personally even went
through a period of time

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where I waited on a grant
to be awarded for four

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months beyond the time that
I expected it to start.

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This has enormous impacts
on our ability to fund our

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research, to fund our
people. And luckily though,

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UW-Madison has stood up
bridging programs, which

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have been phenomenal. So
our chancellor, Chancellor

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Jennifer Mnookin, has just
reached out and really

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enabled us to continue to
thrive, even in an era

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where there's a lot of
uncertainty.

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uncertainty being felt most
acutely?

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larger research programs
when there's interruptions

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in funding to our large
grants. This really affects

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a lot of individuals. And
unfortunately, there has

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been directives from the
National Institutes of

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Health to remove certain
language from the work that

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we're doing. Some of the
directions that we've been

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taking historically in
really very important areas.

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Those types of disruptions
lead to really enormous

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challenges in ensuring that
our people are able to stay

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employed. We have put a
people first mentality. We

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want to ensure that the
folks that are currently

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working at the university
are able to continue to do

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so and pursue their lines
of research.

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that people often focus on
when they talk about

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research at UW-Madison is
Alzheimer's and dementia

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research. How much federal
funding is does that

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research get and is that at
risk?

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>> So right now we bring in
over $100 million a year in

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research funding from
National Institutes of

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Health and other federal
sources in support of our

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work directed against
Alzheimer's disease, as

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well as related dementias.
Currently, the grants that

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we have in that area, the
largest ones led by Doctor

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Sterling Johnson, for
example, a grant called

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clarity, which is hoping to
identify biomarkers for

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dementia. This grant was
funded on time, fully

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funded. Our Alzheimer's
Disease Research Center,

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its core grant was funded
late but fully funded. Many

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other institutions across
the nation have not seeing

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their funds come in when
they are expecting them.

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We've been fortunate to
this point. However.

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coming out of NIH that puts
some of this or other

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research at risk?
>> So there's layers now of

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additional review that very
little. It's quite opaque

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to be honest. We don't
actually know who is

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actually reviewing the
grants. After the point.

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The scientific review
process is done. Those

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additional layers of review
that are being led by the

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administration, whether
it's within the HHS, Health

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and Human Services or at
NIH specifically, we really

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don't understand why they
exist, what value, what

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purpose they serve. But
what they do do is cause

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delays in those grants
being funded, and the money

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being able to be dispersed
to the institution.

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>> Is some of it. They're
looking at research that

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goes to disadvantaged
populations.

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>> Absolutely. And as I
think many of us know, our

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disadvantaged populations
are often the most impacted

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by various types of disease.
Alzheimer's disease is no

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different. We see that
Alzheimer's rates are much

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higher in groups that are
suffering from economic

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disadvantage, from
And when we have to remove

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language related to those
areas, it actually goes

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against what the science is
telling us by studying

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what's happening in those
populations around the

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state of Wisconsin, our
rural populations, our

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urban populations. That is
absolutely critical for us

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to be able to meet the
needs of everyone across

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the entire globe, across
the entire United States.

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>> Are cuts to indirect
costs for research

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operations happening.
>> So far? They haven't

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started. There is sort of
this idea that this is

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coming in the future, and
there's huge concern. We've

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seen, for example,
messaging from the National

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Science Foundation, from
the Department of Defense

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that are requiring us to
put in place smaller

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amounts of indirect costs,
which funds the institution,

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the actual fabric of the
university that allows this

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research to be done. Not
yet. We're really worried

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about where things could go
in the future, however.

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>> So if some of this
research this year was

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delayed but eventually
dispersed, what about next

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year?
that delta of about $5

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billion that hasn't made it
out of NIH. Come the end of

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the NIH fiscal year, which
is the end of September, if

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those funds aren't
likely to be reverted back

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to Treasury. So those are
dollars that become they

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were appropriated by
Congress but not actually

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fulfilled.
fulfilled.