BALTIMORE — Hundreds of Johns Hopkins University (JHU) employees have been laid off due to cuts in federal research funding, according to a university spokesperson.
The cuts have affected the Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Carey Business School, and the central administration. The spokesperson said that “roughly 110 employees” were laid off.
“As our federal research portfolio shrinks, the infrastructure around it must change in parallel,” the university said in a statement.
The statement outlined several cost-management measures already implemented, including a hiring freeze, pausing annual salary increases for employees earning over $80,000, reducing five-year capital project spending by 20%, and other steps.
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Despite efforts to ensure that layoffs would be a “last resort,” the spokesperson confirmed that the cuts could not be avoided.
According to a February letter from JHU President Ron Daniels, the university’s multi-year federal research portfolio declined by more than $500 million in 2025. That drop was driven by a 43% decrease in federal research funding and a 28% decline in the number of awards compared to the previous year.
In March 2025, JHU reported losing $800 million from USAID grant terminations and having to end 90 grants from other agencies, which caused an additional $50 million loss in federal research funding.
These losses prompted the university to furlough more than 200 jobs in Maryland, part of a wider reduction of 2,000 jobs across 44 countries.
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"While our external advocacy focuses on the national risks of federal retreat from this model, we are deeply aware of the significant hardship that is being experienced at Hopkins. In conversations with faculty, staff, graduate students, and postdocs from across our community, and in regular meetings with our deans and members of the Johns Hopkins University Council, it is clear the effects of the marked decline in federal funding are being felt in profound and consequential ways.
Colleagues have expressed confusion, uncertainty, and frustration with the pace and character of decisions from federal granting agencies, especially in the natural and life sciences. Though our colleagues continue to submit strong research proposals, the sluggish or stalled pace of awards is debilitating. Graduate students and postdocs are asking whether a career in science in the United States remains a viable option, and so too are faculty members at all stages of their careers."
To address the ongoing challenges, President Daniels announced that Johns Hopkins has created a Research Resilience Fund that will earmark $60 million annually over the next two years to “meet the needs of faculty, students, and research teams facing federal grant terminations or delays, or experiencing the broader effects of the changed research ecosystem.”
For additional support, the university has also launched the Life Sciences Research Initiative, which will invest $80 million annually for each of the next two years to fund basic and applied research across multiple life sciences disciplines.
“We know there is no replacement for the partnership between the federal government and American research universities that has kept the United States at the forefront of global scientific, medical, and technological leadership for more than eight decades,” Daniels said. “But we can and will marshal all the tools at our disposal to sustain our research enterprise and the faculty, students, and staff who do this impactful work. We are profoundly grateful for the generosity of the donors who have made this Life Sciences Research Initiative possible.The resiliency of our mission and the continuity of our research are critical to the health and flourishing of our nation and its people. We will continue to draw on the entrepreneurial spirit that has guided Johns Hopkins for the past 150 years as we meet this moment together.”
