Amid firings at NIH, new Director pledges to implement changes “humanely”
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Anonymous
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Like learning you’ve been fired because your badge doesn’t work when you show up for work at 6 am.
JB: https://www.axios.com/2025/04/01/nih-bhattacharya-difficult-changes "Many of our valued colleagues are losing their jobs, which is in no way a reflection of the quality of their work. I want to express my deepest gratitude to those who will be affected for all you have contributed to the mission of the NIH," he added. The staff reductions will require new approaches to carrying out key administrative functions at the agency including communications, legislative affairs and procurement, the email said. "As we navigate these challenges, I will do my best to lead the NIH through these reforms, implement new policies humanely, and endeavor to earn your trust," Bhattacharya wrote. And reports from those affected https://www.reddit.com/r/NIH/comments/1joodwi/41_rif_tracker_nih/?sort=new I hope voters in Florida and Wisconsin will consider this. Among those fired: Diana W. Bianchi is the Director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development https://www.nichd.nih.gov/about/profiles/leadership/director And https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_Marrazzo |
Anonymous
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Firings at FDA this morning too, people finding out because their badge does not work, or allowed minutes to gather their stuff and leave. entire offices cut. my spouse is there and so far so good for him but the situation is just insane. hard to see how the agency is going to keep working well. way to really destroy a country.
https://www.reddit.com/r/fednews/comments/1jotv77/megathread_april_1_hhs_mass_reduction_in_force/ |
Anonymous
| Brain worm in action. |
Anonymous
This. I’m so sorry for all the Feds. It’s just bs. |
Anonymous
| It will take ages to undo the damage- if at all. |
Anonymous
Really? You think congress will pass any bill to restore these departments? Lots of moderate democrats and the filibuster say that will never happen. Maybe Old Chuck Schumer can talk to his buddies at the gym? |
Anonymous
The proof will be in the budget. The GOP just passed a CR that includes funding for all the programs and departments that DOGE is purportedly deleting. At this point Trump is unconstitutionally impounding congressionally appropriated funds. |
Anonymous
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You humanely find out you’re fired based on whether you can get into the building in the morning after a two hour commute? You can’t get in and get 20 minutes to get your personal items? Yeah— very humane way to RIF /s
I do believe Voight— the point here is to traumatize Feds. I’m SSA and our production and cases cleared is tightly monitored. And we are so far underwater for monthly and yearly goals right now. And I’m not sure that we’ve had a single year in the 18 I’ve been at SSA where we haven’t made goal. A couple years it came down to the wire, but we’ve always done it. Space for zero that’s at 3x capacity (and thank God we only have to come in 2x a week because of space constraints). And this is with most people in conference room that hold a dozen people. Your laptop dies? No way to charge it. Forget getting a second monitor— which we need for a document and writing heavy job. Etc. We were twice a week for a decade+ before COVID, but they let our leases go in 2022. People are taking 1-2 days of sick leave a week, a lot of it for mental health. People are filing mental health workers comp claims. COVID is spreading like wildfire. And our production for the year is so far off track we won’t come close, even if we rally the second half of the year (we won’t). Efficiency! |
Anonymous
And no one is stopping him. |
Anonymous
| Bhattacharya seems eminently reasonable. Just listened to his whole interview with Bari Weiss. |
Anonymous
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If you want to have an idea of the damage done you can read this https://www.reddit.com/r/DeptHHS/comments/1jo4emu/rif_notices/?share_id=64gFRHA7QLiruQcAEFBNg&utm_content=1&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_source=share&utm_term=1
Entire branches gone, including leadership, including people with decades or experience and expertise. Morale a mile underground for whoever is left as this is seen as what it is, a war against competent and efficient public sector workers to destroy health agencies and have them become just a mouth piece of the government through incompetent lackeys and sycophants Trump put in place. |
Anonymous
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I'll believe it when I see it. My super-star, PhD cancer researcher neighbor was fired on Feb 14 as a probationary worker. Lost her health insurance days later.
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Anonymous
The government will never recover. The damage cannot be undone. Or to quote Benjamin Franklin, “You can’t take the pee out of the pool.” |
Anonymous
| And the least qualified people ("Brainworm" Kennedy and "Whiskeyleaks" Hegseth, among them) are now running our departments and taking orders from President Musk. |
Anonymous
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I posted this in the Jobs forum but its a political issue -- the damage that will be done to this country will literally take another lifetime to undo. We have spent decades and billions, if not trillions, of dollars building a health care and science infrastructure and the Project 2025 people -- with Trump and Kennedy as useful idiots -- are undoing it in weeks. And what is particularly disgusting to me is the HHS notice said the reductions "are primarily aimed at administrative positions including human resources, information technology, procurement, and finance" and will “target roles in high-cost regions and employees in programmatic areas that have been determined to be redundant or duplicative with other functions in HHS or across the federal government" but these are among the programs/agencies they have fully cut:
FDA/Center for Tobacco Products (CTP)/ Entire division gone CDC Division of HIV Prevention, entire branch gone, all epidemiologists and health scientists CDC, National Institutes for Occupational Safety and Health, Health Effects Laboratory Division, Allergy and Clinical Immunology Branch, Entire team National Institute of Organizational Safety and Health / whole offices in Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Morgantown FDA/ Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) / Office of Strategic Programs / Data Standards Staff, entire team CDC/National Center for Injury Prevention and Control/Division of Violence Prevention, entire team NIH/National Institute on Aging CDC/NCCDPHP/ Division of Reproductive Health/ Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring CDC/DEHSP - the entire division has been RIFd CDC / Natl Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion / Division of Oral Health, nearly every employee in the division SAMHSA / OTS-CENTER FOR BEHAVIORAL HEALTH STATISTICS & QUALITY / OFFICE OF TREATMENT SERVICES/ Entire Office RIF'd CDC / Global Health Center / Division of Global HIV and TB -- 7 of 14 Branches within Global HIV were completely RIF'd FDA/CDER/ Office of New Drug Policy - entire office removed SAMHSA / Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality / Office of Population Surveys. Entire office RIFed HRSA/Bureau of Primary Health Care(BPHC), Office of Health Center Investment Oversight, entire office was eliminated (Of course they ALSO cut all those "redundant" and "duplicative" functions....like none of these people did anything) FDA Office of management: all budget, HR and acquisitions are gone FDA/ Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research/ Office of Management, whole office FDA/Office of Inspections and Investigations/Office of Management, whole office FDA/Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH)/Office of Management, whole office CDC Freedom of Information Act Office. Entire team CMS / Office of Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights, whole office FDA / Human Foods Program / Office of Communications, Education, and Engagement, entire team CDC/Global Health Center/Division of Global HIV and TB/Strategy, Policy, and Communications Branch, entire team |