WASHINGTON − The Department of Veterans Affairs threw a 90-day lifeline to temporary researchers whose medical studies were plunged into uncertainty by the Trump administration’s sweeping layoffs and hiring freeze, but their fate remains uncertain.
President Donald Trump‘s government-wide hiring freeze threatened to wipe out hundreds of studies and clinical trials that are run through temporary VA appointments – scientific partnerships that have seeded landmark medical inventions from the invention of the pacemaker to the first CAT scan.
But this week, the VA quietly pulled back, extending some research terms that were set to expire in the next three months by 90 days, the VA confirmed to USA TODAY on Wednesday.
Scientists say the fate of important studies and trials funded by the VA’s development and research office still hangs in the air.
“You never know when we’re going to get hit with some new wild news that, you know, could just be completely devastating,” a researcher on a temporary VA appointment told USA TODAY. They asked to remain anonymous to safeguard their study, which involves opioid use among veterans.
The loss of a member of her team who was dropped by the VA in the wave of layoffs and appointment cancellations “is further delaying our progress on the project,” they said.
The VA did not publicly announce the 90 day extension. While a temporary reprieve, researchers said it still left unanswered questions – what happens at the end of the extension? And are personnel already let go by the agency gone for good?
The VA did not respond to those questions.
“This extension will ensure continuity of all VA research efforts while the department conducts a comprehensive assessment of ongoing research initiatives to evaluate their impact on Veteran health care,” spokesperson Peter Kasperowicz said in a statement.
The opioid use researcher said it was unclear what the new extension means for their study. The study had already lost one team member to the Trump layoffs. And because their own appointment ends in more than 90 days, and isn’t covered by the VA’s extension, “there’s also no clear solution for me.”
By firing administrative workers who may have appeared inessential to medical research and care, the Trump administration removed team members who were responsible for checking in with study subjects and doing patient follow up. The firings by Trump aide Elon Musk’s DOGE disrupted studies that were meant to follow patients over time, VA researchers and experts said.
Amid the Trump administration’s widespread cuts at federal agencies, the VA has already laid off 2,400 employees.
And it’s not over. According to a memo circulated among agency heads and previously reported by USA TODAY, the VA plans to lay off at least 76,000 more workers, which lawmakers and advocates fear could devastate the already short-staffed agency.
The VA exempted 300,000 positions from the hiring freeze, including direct caregivers, and has said “mission critical” positions and contracts were not wiped out in the layoffs.
But the chaos has already impacted the VA’s dual research appointments, a key system for medical research, sparking fear among scientists of serious ramifications down the line – and not just for veterans.
For decades, the VA has tapped doctors, professors and researchers from outside institutions to run temporary studies and clinical trials through dual appointments, a “cost effective” way for the VA to access experts on a limited basis, according to Elizabeth Stout of the National Association of Veterans’ Research and Education Foundation.
Congress designated $984 million for more than 7,270 active VA research projects last year. More than 3,680 principal investigators across 102 research sites are at work on the programs. Many of these scientists are on “without compensation” appointments, meaning the VA gets access to their work without paying for it – even though they are still technically federal employees.
Even those staff were caught up in the hiring freeze, which also included federal appointments. It remains unclear whether the VA’s extension will restore laid off researchers or disrupted studies.
Rashi Romanoff, NAVREF’s chief executive officer, said the “destiny” of researchers who have already been let go is uncertain. “Across VA’s research community, there’s been a lot of concern about the ability to sustain critical veterans research initiatives,” she said.
Over its century-long history, the VA’s research funding has produced a long line of scientific firsts, from the cardiac pacemaker to the CAT scan. VA researchers are behind key medical studies and technologies that impact veterans, but also the broader public, including prosthetics, PTSD and cancer.
“What is needed is research into why military service increases risk” of ALS, said Kuldip Dave, senior vice president of research at the ALS Association. ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, is a severe nervous system disease that U.S. veterans are 1.5 times more likely to contract than the general population. Why is unknown.
“Veterans might be a smaller population to study, but what we find out there could be impactful for all patients,” he said.
More than 60% of VA researchers are also clinicians. Dave said that gives them the unique ability to apply what they learn in the lab to their patients.
“This is the only organization whose sole focus is to do research on veterans needs,” he said.
“This is not like, ‘Oh, if you cut VA personnel, the slack will be picked up by someone else.’ There is no slack to be picked up.”
