April 14, 2025

Dear colleagues:

It was wonderful to see the more than 400 faculty and staff who joined the School of Medicine town hall on April 8 to hear updates on how federal directives, policy changes, and legislative proposals are impacting the university and the School of Medicine. Thank you for your engagement and thoughtful questions. While I know it sometimes feels that things are moving slowly as we await meaningful updates, we are simultaneously having to navigate rapid changes in some areas. I appreciate our leadership team’s commitment to transparency and communication. We will continue providing more information as details become available.

Below you will find an overview of key points covered in the town hall. We will continue working to answer your questions, acknowledging that the information we have is limited and constantly evolving.

As Interim Provost Lanny Liebeskind stated, we continue to face significant financial risks to the three main sources of university revenue: research funding, endowment income, and tuition.

What are the latest impacts on research at Emory?

Grant terminations have continued. As of April 11, 27 awards as prime and 32 sub-awards/subcontracts have been terminated at Emory; 20 of these have been in the School of Medicine.
Please continue your outstanding work in research and discovery, including submission of grant proposals.
Remain attentive to federal compliance, including spending on research grants according to budget and effort certification.

What support will Emory University and School of Medicine provide to individuals impacted by terminated grants?

University leaders are working to establish a mechanism to provide limited financial support for those impacted.
School of Medicine has been working on plans to support those who need to pivot their federally funded research portfolio.

What sort of proactive strategies are we considering to ensure SOM research continues?

As mentioned above, we are developing various programs to support researchers in pivoting their research efforts to align with current funding priorities. We must also broaden our research portfolio overall. This work will be ongoing.

How will learners and trainees be impacted?

We know there are questions and concerns about scholarships and financial aid. There may also be impacts to doctoral and postdoctoral training grants and programs. The full impact is unclear at this point, but we remain committed to our education mission.

Interim Provost Liebeskind also discussed the importance of complying with a recent federal order related to formal Equal Employment Opportunity statements. We will be providing specific details to SOM leaders soon about how to implement these changes in the School of Medicine.

VP of Government and Community Affairs Cameron Taylor provided an update about Emory's ongoing work on Capitol Hill and in the Georgia state assembly, which ended their 2024 legislative session earlier this month. View the latest updates from the Office of Government and Community Affairs.

Thank you for your hard work and continued dedication to our learners, our patients, our community and each other.

Sandra

Sandra L. Wong, MD, MS
Dean, Emory School of Medicine
Chief Academic Officer, Emory Healthcare