The Trump administration dismiss workers from the NIH Alzheimer’s research center, including the entrant director
As President Donald Trump directs discounts of tens of thousands of employees of the federal government, among those who are dismissed in American health agencies are the workers of a department of the National Institutes of Health focusing on dementia, Including their incoming leader, three people familiar with the layoffs told ABC Nouvelles.
The dismissals of the Center for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia (card) have assigned approximately one -tenth of the center employees, but in interviews with ABC News, workers described a carefully woven collaboration network which, According to them, could be threatened by the dismissals of a handful of employees, warning that he could compromise progress in the answer to key questions on the Dementia.
The most shocking for card workers was the dismissal of the main researcher Kendall Van Keuren-Jeansen, who was announced internally as the next acting director of the organization and was to provide significant progress in the field of research.
“It’s just breathtaking,” said an employee of the higher level card to ABC News of Van Keuren-Jeansen’s dismissal.
ABC News contacted Van Keuren-Jeansen, who refused to comment.
In this September 12, 2020, the photo of file, the main historic building (Building 1) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is indicated on the field of the NIH campus in Bethesda, MD.
Getty images, file
À la carte dismissals were reported for the first time by the new Republic.
Neurologists say that reducing à la carte workforce could be a hard blow for the scientific quest for Alzheimer’s treatments. NIH à la carte scientists work with external scientists to transform the first scientific discoveries into treatments and drugs.
The center also had significant bipartisan support. He was appointed according to Senator Roy Blunt, a Missouri republican who was a champion of funding for dementia.
In the United States, nearly 7 million people live with Alzheimer’s disease, according to the Alzheimer’s association. There is no remedy and current treatments only help relieve symptoms or slow the progression of the disease.
A relaxed card worker told ABC News that a dismissal letter received on February 15 from a human resources manager of the NIH, had cited the worker’s performance, even if the worker told ABC News that their managers assured them that their performance was not a problem.
Medicine researchers from various universities and the National Institutes of Health gather at the head office of health and social services to protest against federal budget cuts on February 19, 2025, in Washington.
John McDonnell / AP
Another card employee rejected the idea that layoffs were linked to performance.
“”[One colleague] Recently published a newspaper of the first author in a strong impact review and they were dismissed for poor performance, and I said: Do you make fun of me? “They told ABC News.
Outgoing director Andrew Singleton told his colleagues in an email that dismissals would have “a deep impact on the work we do to understand and treat the disease,” said a card employee.
Singleton did not respond to a request for comments from ABC News.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Health and Social Services did not respond to requests for comments.
Karoline Leavitt, the press secretary of the White House, said in connection with dismissals between federal agencies, “there should be no secrets that this administration has committed to reducing waste, fraud and Abuse.
The secretary of recently confirmed health and social services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., pleaded vast resumes in the department, specifically establishing plans on the campaign campaign to reduce the hundreds of NIH, which, according to him, should Focus on infectious diseases towards chronic diseases.
“We have to act quickly, and we want these people to be in place on January 20 so that on January 21, 600 people will enter offices at NIH and that 600 people will leave,” said Kennedy in November, speaking speaking During the annual event Genius Network in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the candidate of American president Donald Trump to the Secretary of Health and Social Services, testifies to his committee of the Senate Finance, on January 29, 2025.
Win McNamee / Getty images
The layoffs of the Alzheimer’s Research Center occur in the midst of a wave of other changes to government health agencies, including around 700 layoffs to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and at least 90 others at Food and Drug Administration of people who have worked on nutrition, and at least 90 years of food security and infants’ regulation, according to several agency officials. There have also been cuts in other parts of the HHS, including the administration for strategic preparation and response.
Almost all employees who Manning Vaccines.Gov, the website that help people find vaccines in their region, have also been released, said a manager who supervises the site.
A senior Trump administration official said Digital Fox News HHS “departures” were estimated at 6,000 people, while other The sockets estimated that 3,600 were cut. When asked by ABC News on the number, HHS would not confirm the details.
In addition, a media campaign encouraging people to get their flu photos has been deleted from the CDC website.
