By Amanda D’Ambrosio | Tuesday, May 13, 2025

The state budget funneled millions into a biomedical workforce development program to recruit top-tier research talent to local medical institutions.

The $254 billion budget signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul last week allocated $10 million to the New York Fund for Innovation in Research and Scientific Talent, a pool of money that helps medical schools recruit and retain leading life science researchers. The program offers academic institutions grant money to hire head clinical trial investigators or senior lab scientists seeking to bring new drugs and other therapies to market, aiming to develop biotech partnerships and economic growth. 

The funding comes as institutions nationwide face steep cuts to biomedical research. The Trump administration has already frozen grants from the National Institutes of Health to institutions such as Columbia University and the City University of New York, and has proposed a massive restructuring of federal research agencies that could erode financial support for biomedical breakthroughs.

“It’s clear that we shouldn’t and probably can’t rely solely on federal funding,” said Jonathan Teyan, president and chief executive officer of Associated Medical Schools of New York State, an industry group that represents public and private institutions statewide. “In this climate, any support that states provide for research becomes even more important.”

“It’s clear that we shouldn’t and probably can’t rely solely on federal funding,” said Jonathan Teyan, president and chief executive officer of Associated Medical Schools of New York State, an industry group that represents public and private institutions statewide. “In this climate, any support that states provide for research becomes even more important.”

Such grants have created 160 biomedical jobs statewide and attracted 95 workers from out of state, according to the governor’s office. Senior researchers hired through the program have brought more than $25 million in NIH funding to New York, as well as $93.7 million from private funders. All of the researchers who have been recruited through the program thus far have remained at their institutions, the governor’s office said.

“The [return on investment] is pretty clear,” Teyan said.

Hochul announced the latest round of grants through the program on Monday, opening up applications through April 2026. Medical schools may receive up to $1 million through the program to upgrade their labs to support incoming principal investigators or hire support staff. 

Read the full article: https://www.crainsnewyork.com/health-pulse/new-york-invests-life-science-workforce-feds-pull-back-funding