How one Harvard Chan researcher has navigated funding uncertainties
Will Mair, professor of molecular metabolism at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, was among dozens of researchers at the School whose federal grants were canceled last spring. In a March 13 New York Times article, Mair—who studies the biology of aging and directs Harvard Chan School’s Healthy Aging Initiative—shared details about the aftermath.
The cancellations were among nearly $3 billion in grants and contracts cut across Harvard University, after the University rejected Trump administration demands that included changes in governance, hiring, and admissions. A court ruled in early September that the grant cancellations were illegal, and most of the funds have since been restored. But Mair still faced months of worry about how he would keep his lab running as well as ongoing uncertainty about future funding.
The New York Times article described Mair’s initial shock at learning he’d lost his grant, complications related to restoring his roughly $1 million grant, and his efforts to find new sources of funding from potential donors.
Support Harvard Chan School
Every gift contributes to our mission of building a world where everyone can thrive. To learn more about how you can support the School, please contact giving@hsph.harvard.edu.
Mair recently learned he would receive $1.6 million from the National Institutes of Health to support his research for the next five years, the article noted. But Mair also told the Times that, going forward, he will remain cautious. He said that he will continue to seek private funding and “figure out how to do science differently, to buffer my work against uncertainty.”
Read the New York Times article: His Harvard Lab Was Thriving. Then Came the Cuts.
