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WASHINGTON – A former leading scientist at the National Institutes of Health sued the Trump administration Tuesday, saying she was illegally fired for warning that abrupt research cuts were endangering patients and public health.
The NIH has cut billions of dollars in research projects since President Donald Trump took office in January, bypassing the usual scientific funding process. The cuts included clinical trials testing treatments for cancer, brain diseases and other health problems that a recent report said impacted over 74,000 people enrolled in the experiments.
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Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo is a well-known HIV expert who led NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Last spring, Marrazzo was put on administrative leave after she challenged NIH officials about the cuts. Among her objections were that some cuts would endanger clinical trial participants while others curtailing infectious disease and vaccine research would harm public health, according to Tuesday’s lawsuit.
In September, Marrazzo filed a complaint alleging whistleblower retaliation with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, and publicly shared her concerns. Weeks later she was fired by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., according to the lawsuit filed in federal court in Maryland that claims violations of whistleblower protections.
In a statement issued by her lawyers, Marrazzo said the lawsuit “is about protecting not just my right to expose abuse and fraud by our government but those rights for all federal employees, so we can safeguard essential public health priorities and the integrity of scientific research.”
A spokesman for Kennedy’s Department of Health and Human Services declined to comment.
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