BOSTON — A top tuberculosis researcher at the Harvard Chan School received a stop-work order on Tuesday as the Trump administration freezes $2.2 billion in grants to the university over campus activism.
Officials confirmed that Sarah Fortune, Chair of the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, was ordered to halt her tuberculosis research.
Fortune’s lab focuses on the diversity of tuberculosis bacteria and how that contributes to differences in the disease, as well as treatment outcomes, according to her biography.
“That research was supported by a $60 million NIH contract and involved collaborative work by Harvard and multiple other universities across the U.S.,” a Harvard University spokesperson said.
School officials also believe the stop-work order is part of the broader funding freeze the Trump administration is imposing on Harvard.
The university says they don’t yet have a comprehensive list of the affected grants and contracts. It’s also unclear how long the stop-work order will be in place.
The scientists at @UMassChan are leading groundbreaking research into cancer, ALS, heart disease and more. They should be in the lab — but Trump's cuts to NIH put their work at risk.
— Maura Healey (@MassGovernor) April 15, 2025
My administration will always stand on the side of lifesaving research. We've got your back. pic.twitter.com/E4uD8swzEm
Governor Maura Healey visited the UMass Chan Medical School in Worcester on Tuesday to highlight the negative impacts of President Trump’s cuts to the National Institutes of Health funding, saying they’ve “halted lifesaving research for cures and treatments, and rolled out the welcome mat for China and other countries to take over our competitive edge.”
“Research brings hope to the human condition, and it is shocking to an academic community like ours that research would be attacked, particularly by folks who believe that America should be the best,” said UMass Chan Medical School Chancellor Michael F. Collins. “It’s time to put partisan politics aside, to understand the importance of America’s research enterprise, to get the funding back flowing, and then let all of us come together to work through whatever issues we need to work through so we can assure that America’s Biomedical Research Institute, remains the finest in the world.”
Earlier this month, a group of scientists and health groups sued the National Institutes of Health, arguing the “ideological purge” of research funding is illegal and threatens medical cures.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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