A peer-reviewed analysis published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that abrupt NIH terminations of nearly 2,300 federal research grants disproportionately harmed women and early-career scientists. The paper analyzed 2,291 grants terminated between February 2025 and mid-August, representing about $5.1 billion in total award value. The study reports that women represented 46.1% of affected researchers but lost a larger share of unspent funds and more “unrealized scientific output.” Early-career researchers—including assistant professors, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows—faced lost advancement opportunities because many relied on single-grant financing models. According to the report, the grant cancellations followed an anti-DEI directive from President Donald Trump for federal agencies to weed out “equity-related” grants, followed by NIH guidance to pull funding for specified topics. Nearly 52% of affected funds had already been spent by the time NIH canceled them, meaning NIH effectively rescinded under $2.5 billion—but still froze an additional 1,534 grants. For university research offices, the operational impact is immediate: funding instability affects workforce planning, hiring, lab continuity, and graduate training pipelines—especially for institutions that already face tight research-admin cash-flow margins.