The newly inaugurated administration ordered the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to halt all review meetings for grant applications, critically delaying funding decisions for ongoing cancer research projects. Professor Rachael Sirianni at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, who focuses on aggressive medulloblastoma in pediatric brain cancer, had her upcoming NIH grants evaluation paused. This sudden action has caused widespread uncertainty among academic scientists relying on NIH support for costly cancer research initiatives. The disruption underscores challenges in federal funding continuity and its direct implications on urgent cancer studies.