Clinical trials at the National Institutes of Health and at organizations it funds may continue, and patients may still travel to trial sites to participate in research, despite the Trump administration’s restrictions on travel and communications, the acting director of the N.I.H., Dr. Matthew Memoli, said in an email to staff on Monday.
While Dr. Memoli’s announcement provided some clarification, it left many questions unanswered. Communications staff at the N.I.H. did not pick up the phone or respond to emails requesting additional information.
Dr. Memoli’s note emphasized that critical purchases for needed laboratory supplies and any contracting required “for anything directly related to human safety, human or animal health care, security, biosafety, biosecurity or I.T. security,” could continue.
Likewise, the email said, essential purchases and contracting needed to sustain research experiments that started before to Jan. 20 could be made “so that this work can continue, and we do not lose our investment in these studies,” Dr. Memoli said.
He described the pause imposed on mass communications and public appearances as “short” and said it did not apply to anything “directly related to emergencies or critical to preserving health.”
Scientists may also continue to meet to discuss ongoing research that was initiated before Jan. 20, as long as “it does not involve public release of information or presentation of data outside of those individuals who are part of the research or facilitation/funding of that research,” the memo said.