Top NIH Scientists File Whistleblower Complaints Alleging Retaliation by Trump Administration for Defending Research Grants and Vaccines and Objecting to Political Decisions Driving Public Health Policy

In Complaints Submitted to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, Top NIH Scientists Charge the Trump Administration with Gross Mismanagement and Harm to Public Health

(Washington, D.C.) – Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, the former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and Dr. Kathleen Neuzil, the former Director of the Fogarty International Center and NIH Associate Director for International Research, filed complaints with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) alleging illegal retaliation for whistleblowing.  In addition, Drs. Marrazzo and Neuzil filed a report to OSC detailing government wrongdoing related to NIH’s officials’ cancellation of several critical research grants, the politicization of scientific research, and the baseless hostility towards vaccinations, ignoring scientific evidence demonstrating their safety and effectiveness. This matter was reported by The New York Times today.

Read Dr. Marrazzo’s retaliation complaint here and Dr. Neuzil’s retaliation complaint here, and Drs. Marrazzo and Neuzil’s disclosure report detailing government wrongdoing here. According to the complaints, both physicians raised concerns following the cancellation or pause of several critical public health trials or studies and objected to political appointees’ unscientific hostility to vaccines. Dr. Marrazzo and Dr. Neuzil were both placed on leave in April 2025.

On this matter, Debra S. Katz, counsel for Drs. Marrazzo and Neuzil, provided the following statement:

“Today we filed whistleblower complaints with the Office of Special Counsel on behalf of our clients, Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo and Dr. Kathy Neuzil. They are preeminent scientists who were prepared to work in good faith with the new administration, as civil servants do with every administration, to advance NIH’s mission. They were not permitted that opportunity.

“The Trump Administration installed politically motivated leaders – most notably Secretary Robert Kennedy, Jr., who immediately acted to stifle scientific inquiry, halt crucial research and retaliate against those, like Drs. Marrazzo and Neuzil, who refused to disavow the overwhelming body of evidence showing that vaccines are safe and effective.

“The proof that they were removed for illegal reasons is powerful and incontrovertible. But their exclusive avenue for obtaining legal relief is with the OSC, an agency dismantled by President Trump. OSC is now led by Trump loyalists and has been politically compromised to such an extent that it will most certainly refuse to act against Trump appointees.  Without a robust agency to protect whistleblowers, Secretary Kennedy and other Trump appointees installed in key positions at HHS and NIH, are free to sideline, suspend and terminate employees with impunity.

“Dr. Marrazzo and Dr. Neuzil came forward to educate the public about the serious public health dangers this country and indeed the world faces as a result of the politically motivated actions of Secretary Kennedy and others appointed to high-level posts at HHS and NIH.”

At Katz Banks Kumin, Dr. Marrazzo and Dr. Neuzil are represented by Debra S. Katz, Pamela Stone, and Marilyn Gabriela Robb.

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The attorneys of Katz Banks Kumin are nationally recognized leaders in the areas of whistleblower law, discrimination and sexual harassment law, wage and hour law, employment law, and civil rights and civil liberties matters. They are dogged advocates for their clients and are highly regarded by their adversaries for their tenacious representation. The firm handles cases nationwide with offices in Washington, D.C., New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. https://katzbanks.com