Please send this letter to Secretary Kennedy and to members of congress and the Senate.

Secretary Kennedy’s email address is and phone is here.

Find your congressional rep here. Many do not have an email address but a form-based website, which you will need to transfer the text into.

Draft email:

Dear [Secretary Kennedy, or insert name of member of congress or senate].

As members of the health sciences community – including both extramural (ERP) and intramural research programs (IRP) of the NIH – we write to you with an urgent plea. The recent DOGE activities at the NIH are reverberating through our scientific communities worldwide and have immediate consequences on the health and wellbeing of Americans.  The imminent, scheduled first round of mass terminations of highly talented research scientists, classified as Title 42G, on March 8th threatens to inflict severe institutional and reputational damage to the NIH and undermine its ability to fulfill its critical mission, to unlock the mysteries of living systems, transform scientific discoveries into lifesaving breakthroughs, and build a healthier, more hopeful future for all.

Title 42g scientists comprise about 65% of all professional scientific staff on the NIH campus (i.e. not including trainees or contractors).  These are the brilliant minds and tireless hands pushing the frontiers of science and developing the cures that save lives — they are the heart and soul of discovery, not bureaucratic waste. These terminations are an unintended consequence of the hiring freeze and are unrelated to the mass dismissal of probationary employees. To our understanding, these terminations were not the result of any deliberate decision to let these individuals go. However, the abrupt dismissal of these individuals—without regard for their contributions or future potential—jeopardizes NIH’s ability to sustain its tradition of scientific excellence. These imminent terminations are at odds with the objectives outlined in the Executive Order of February 13, 2025, Establishing the President’s Make America Healthy Again Commission. The Executive Order emphasizes the importance of strengthening America’s scientific and medical research enterprise to improve national health outcomes.

Dismissing cohorts of our most promising investigators beginning on March 8th runs counter to this vision and will likely serve to catalyze the disintegration of the US health scientist community.

We urge you to take immediate action to prevent the beginning of the end of the NIH IRP and the imminent consequences of the proposed cuts to NIH funding for the ERP.  Taking some time to review these policies and their consequences would allow Congress, the scientific community, and the American people to fully understand what is at stake. The NIH has been built over decades into the most world-renowned network of scientific discovery with the mission of improving human health.  Please ensure that hasty administrative decisions do not undermine its legacy.

We respectfully request your leadership in addressing this matter and stand ready to assist in any efforts to safeguard the future of NIH’s research mission.

Sincerely,