Trump cuts to science advisory boards have long-lasting consequences, researchers say

Netia McCray stands outside the Museum of Science, where she runs a STEM educational program for teens, in Boston, Mass. McCray has been suffering from long COVID since 2020. Lucy Lu for NPR hide caption

Netia McCray recalls how excited she was to join the federal advisory committee on long COVID in 2025. She had been diagnosed in the early days of the pandemic — and symptoms such as fatigue, heart palpitations and shortness of breath had become a frustrating but inescapable part of life.

Science President Trump seeks control of science funding By joining this group of doctors, researchers and other experts advising on the disease, McCray, 36, had hoped to channel her years of experience as a long-COVID patient into "something that could benefit so many individuals like myself and my community," she says. The work, she felt, could make her part of the solution for a debilitating condition that impacts millions of Americans.

Netia McCray speaks with her students at the Museum of Science. Lucy Lu for NPR hide caption

But McCray had only been on the committee for a few months when she received an email notice that the group was terminated, "effective immediately."

Mental Health As USS Lincoln heads home, mental health experts tally the stressors of life at sea McCray's advisory group is one of more than 100 science-focused federal committees that have been terminated under the second Trump administration, according to a news analysis in the journal Nature. As of March of this year, more than a quarter of the country's healthcare-related committees have been shut down, according to the advocacy group Public Citizen.

As a result, McCray is one of hundreds of experts who are no longer meeting to work on some of the most intractable and urgent problems around health and science in the United States. The losses linked to the demise of these groups are difficult to quantify, but participants and advocates say the impacts will reverberate across federal agencies for years.

Only on NPR Researchers say the Trump administration is finding new ways to punish science A rare team of cross-functional experts McCray — who runs a nonprofit helping high school students access opportunities in STEM — was joined on the committee by pediatrician Dr. Alexandra Yonts, at Children's National Hospital in Washington, D.C. Yonts, one of the few experts in the country who specializes in long COVID in children, was also eager to contribute to the advisory group. Patients often travel long distances to be seen in her clinic. She has frustratingly few options.

Science Scientists see Trump's firing of the National Science Board as an attack on research " We need new therapeutics," says Yonts.

Twelve other experts from a cross section of relevant fields including public health, pulmonology, and critical care joined this group to think together about how to galvanize new solutions.

Only on NPR Philanthropy is a 'significant form of power.' Here's how Jeffrey Epstein exploited that A hallmark of American government The U.S. has long relied on a system of gathering outside experts from a range of backgrounds in order to advise federal agencies on complex issues.