Our Johns Hopkins research enterprise

Dear Johns Hopkins Community: 

As America’s first research university, Johns Hopkins has had a longstanding and highly productive partnership with our federal government, forged in the embers of WWII when Vannevar Bush—an MIT engineering professor and the renowned leader of wartime R&D who went on to found the National Science Foundation—was called upon to redeploy the American research enterprise for “the improvement of the national health, the creation of new enterprises bringing jobs, and the betterment of the national standard of living.” 

In the ensuing years, universities all across America answered that call, producing research and discoveries that have transformed our understanding of the possible—from the invention of radar systems to GPS, from modern genetics to quantum mechanics, from the development of the pacemaker to cancer immunotherapy. University-based research, supported by the federal government, has time and again advanced American ingenuity and competitiveness and improved the human condition at home and across the globe. 

Now, as a new administration arrives in Washington, research universities are being called upon to navigate a period of substantial change, and we are reminded that this federal partnership is not to be taken lightly. 

In just the past two weeks, we have seen numerous executive orders, agency directives, and other federal actions that directly affect our university’s research mission. These actions and communications signal changes in federal policy with regard to foreign aid, patient care, public health, diversity, gender, and immigration, and they coincide with unexpected pauses in grant payments from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), National Science Foundation (NSF), and National Institutes of Health (NIH). 

The pace and scope of this transition is intense and presents a challenge for our university community, as it does for all of the American research enterprise. 

We are closely monitoring the evolving federal landscape and collaborating closely with divisional leaders to assess and prepare for the implications of these changes across the full range of disciplines and programs, and we will continue to seek the partnership of our shared governance bodies. We are also hearing from you about your desire to continue the critical work of discovery, education, and patient care. Your commitment to improving and saving lives, pursuing the next discovery, and advancing opportunity is both inspiring and unsurprising—this is what Johns Hopkins and its people do.  

And so, I write you today to urge you to keep doing your important work. 

It will take some time before we know and can provide clear guidance on the extent of the changes before us. Unless you have received specific direction from an agency to pause your work, and verification of that from our Office of General Counsel, carry on. For those of you who have received direct federal communications, our Office of General Counsel and academic leadership will provide guidance and support. 

Johns Hopkins has long positioned itself financially to weather short-term disruptions in federal funding, but we are also anticipating some longer-term curtailment of activities. We will comply fully with any changes in federal laws and requirements, and we will continue to do our work and highlight its positive impact while we await clarity on those changes from the federal government and through the judicial review process.

Indeed, on the cusp of our 150th anniversary, we’ll continue to do the work that has defined our institution since our beginning—to bring the benefits of discovery to the world, open students’ minds to new ideas, care for patients who rely on us, and explore ways to better understand the human condition and find solutions to society’s great challenges. And in this work, we will be guided by the principles of excellence, ingenuity, and open inquiry, drawing on the rich tapestry of people, thought, and experience that we have long held to be essential to our success. 

Thank you for the role you play in Johns Hopkins’ extraordinary academic community. We will stay in touch as we move forward together. 

Sincerely, 

Ron Daniels

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