The evidence suggests it wasn't just one person making all the decisions. The Trump administration set the policy direction, officials at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) carried out the cancellations, and Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) personnel were involved in some of the grant-cutting process. The exact decision-makers varied by program.
U.S. GAO
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There are two related but different situations to separate: the broader NIH research-grant cancellations and the Women's Health Initiative's regional-center contracts.
Who was involved?
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President Donald Trump
He set the administration's policy direction through executive orders issued in January 2025, including orders directing agencies to terminate certain equity-related grants and contracts. Those directives shaped the broader cancellation effort.
U.S. GAO
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HHS leadership
The Department of Health and Human Services, led by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., oversaw NIH and issued instructions that affected how grants were reviewed and administered.
U.S. GAO
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NIH officials
NIH officials implemented grant cancellations. Court records in one group of cases show that acting NIH leadership, including Matthew Memoli, sent lists of grants for termination to other officials. DOGE staff member Brad Smith was copied on some of those communications.
Midpage
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DOGE personnel
Reporting and court documents show that DOGE personnel participated in aspects of the wider federal grant-cutting process. Their involvement varied by agency and program.
The Harvard Crimson
But who selected the Women's Health Initiative specifically?
This is where we need to be careful.
The public reporting establishes that HHS notified the study's investigators on April 21, 2025, that its regional-center contracts would end. The cuts were associated with a broader 35% reduction effort. HHS subsequently reversed the decision. However, the sources above do not identify the individual who placed the Women's Health Initiative on the termination list or establish who made the final selection.
Axios
So the most accurate answer is: the Trump administration established the policy, and federal officials implemented it, but we cannot confidently name the specific person who selected this particular study for termination.
That distinction matters. A policy can originate at the top while individual funding decisions are made by officials further down the chain. We shouldn't assume those were the same person without evidence.
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when cutting or picking things to fund shouldn't have came to this. your retarded. when you plaster studies on how the frogs become gay or some shit like that but u attacked the women… now i understand you want women to sit there and be quite and have nothing to say and make sandmiches, be a good lil gurl and have no brain cells but when you specifically do something like that is unacceptable. whether or not they were targeted it is clear things were.
that makes me sad to think that a group of ppl who really just hate the opposite sex that they would do something like that. its sad. i would like to believe it was a mixup since its alot to go thru and clean up that at least be mindful of the ppl who do live in this world.