Today’s update includes some catch up from last week and updates from the Department of Education. NIH’s proposed new Office of Research Innovations, Planning, and Analysis (ORIPA) is something to keep an eye on, especially after the recent executive order.
On Friday, Politico released a draft copy of the next Make America Healthy Again report. The report was due to the President early last week but has yet to be officially released – so the contents may or not be finalized yet.
The focus of this document is laying out a strategic approach to address the issues discussed in May’s report (diet, chemical exposure, lack of physical activity, overmedicalization). The NYT and others have coverage.
There are a couple of proposals in the document I have not seen elsewhere, including a proposal for NIH to develop an Office of Research Innovations, Planning, and Analysis (ORIPA) to conduct portfolio analysis, research prioritization, and “solve the scientific reproducibility and replicability problem.”
There is also a proposal to create additional medical school accreditors, “to increase nutrition education and ensure medical school curricula better align with making America healthy again.”
A federal judge on Thursday rendered a decision that vacates the Department of Education’s February “Dear Colleague” letter, which threatened to strip educational institutions of their federal funding over their DEI practices.
The Administration had already pulled back on the requirements outlined in the letter due to other court rulings.
Much of what was initially outlined in the Education Department’s letter was in reaffirmed a letter last month from the Department of Justice. The DOJ’s letter has yet to be challenged legally.
It is being reported today by multiple outlets that the State Department has, so far this year, cancelled around 6000 student visas.
There is some new reporting from the Washington Post today about how the Department of Education has changed in its interpretation of its civil rights mission under the current Administration.
Today the Department of Education proposed new rules that end the eligibility for participation in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program for employees of “organizations that are undermining national security and American values”.
Science has an interesting piece on non-animal models (NAMs), which are focus of NIH these days.