Johns Hopkins University, one of the nation's leading scientific research centers, said Thursday that it would eliminate more than 2,000 workers in the US and abroad, mainly due to the Trump administration's sudden cuts, and the international aid program.
The most numerous layoffs in the university's history include the 247 domestic workers and associated centers from the Baltimore-based university. An additional 1,975 positions will be reduced in 44 countries. They will influence the university's Bloomberg School of Public Health, its medical school, and the associated nonprofit Jhupiego.
Almost half of schools' total revenue last year came from federally funded research, including $365 million from the U.S. International Development Agency. Overall, the university will lose $800 million in funding from USAID over several years. This is in the process of dismantling the Trump administration.
Johns Hopkins is one of the top universities in funding that the administration aims to cut. And it appears to be one of the most deeply influenced by major research institutions that are caught up in federal money that relies on research and lab operations from the threat of cuts or cuts.
In a statement called “a difficult day” on Thursday, Johns Hopkins said he is “very proud” of his work on the project, which includes his efforts to “care for mothers and infants, fight illness, provide clean drinking water and promote countless important life-saving efforts around the world.”
In a statement last week explaining Johns Hopkins' dependence on federal funds, university president Ron Daniels said “we are more deeply connected to the compact between our sector and the federal government than any other American university.”
Of the school's total operating revenue in 2023, $3.8 billion, or nearly half, was federally funded research. The Trump administration, among other measures, says it wants to make governments more lean and efficient by dramatically reducing financial support for programs that promote public health and food security in low-income countries.
President Trump said it was run by a “radical left madman” in complying with institutional cuts, which amounted to a 90% reduction in business, and was plagued by “risky fraud.”
However, critics of the decision say it is leading a new era of isolationism where reductions could prove dangerous. Sunil Solomon, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins, said that cuts will lead to a revival of the spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
“What a truly great nation does is help other nations, but now we seem to be America's first,” Dr. Solomon said.
The administration is also calling for the National Institutes of Health to reduce the amount they send to universities for research. If they are implemented, those cuts would cut federal payments to Johns Hopkins by more than $100 million a year, according to an analysis of university figures.
The university, which receives about $1 billion a year in NIH funding and currently runs 600 clinical trials, is one of the plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit challenging these cuts.
Separately, the Trump administration is targeting certain schools for cuts. Last week it cut $400 million from Columbia's budget. This is based on accusations that it failed to protect students and faculty from anti-Semitism.
Johns Hopkins and Columbia are on a list of ten schools that say are being scrutinized by the administrative anti-Semitism task force. The administration threatened to cut federal funding for schools on the list and other schools.
In addition to the more than 2,000 employees whose employment was removed, the university said it would cut an additional 78 domestic employees and an international schedule of 29 people.
Johns Hopkins' reductions include a USAID-funded programme that American universities work with global partners to advance primarily public health and agricultural research. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said this week that 5,200 of the agency's 6,200 contracts have been cancelled, with the remaining programs being run directly by the State Department, eliminating the need for USAID in the State Department.
Excluded research projects include international work on tuberculosis, AIDS and cervical cancer, as well as programs that directly benefit Baltimore residents.
Epidemiologist Dr. Solomon is running a $50 million six-year program to improve HIV outcomes in India. He said budget cuts on his program alone will result in around 600 layoffs in the US and India. The programme led to diagnosis of approximately 20,000 people with HIV, particularly through contact tracing.
“That's heartbreaking,” Dr. Solomon said. “Stoping funds won't kill you today, but it will affect the world in six months.”
Dr. Judd Walson runs the International Health Agency at Johns Hopkins and oversees a five-year, $200 million program to diagnose and manage tuberculosis in 20 countries funded by USAID.
In Kampala, Uganda, he said the program was the only way children were diagnosed.
“It's just an example of how abrupt withdrawal of support can have a real impact on survival,” he said.
In addition to job losses at Johns Hopkins, the loss of the program will lead to a surge in epidemics around the world, he said.
Essentially, the closure of USAID had a major impact on universities across the country.
An organization called USAID Stopwork, which tracks layoffs, said 14,000 domestic workers, in total, had lost their jobs to date.
Federal Reserve research shows that universities serve as the main economic engine for many agricultural regions, from Iowa to Florida. This means that the impact of administration reductions on scientific research can be felt in both Red State and left-leaning communities like Baltimore.
The abolition of a $500 million agricultural project called Feed The Future, which funded agricultural research institutes at 19 universities in 17 states, means that many of these labs must be closed.
At the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 30 people lost their jobs at Feed The Future Lab, where they worked to improve soybean cultivation in Africa.
Mississippi State University in Starkville, Michigan, has closed the Fisheries Institute, according to Sydney L. Salter, a university spokesman who refused to reveal the number of jobs lost.
The economic ripple effects of funding cuts are expected to spread to the Baltimore region. With around 30,000 students enrolled, Johns Hopkins is also one of Maryland's largest private employers.
