Reporting confirms the SGMRO remains non-functional despite congressional rejection of the NIH reorganization

A February 27, 2026 account by a former NIH program official documents that the restructuring Congress rejected proceeded administratively anyway, listing among the completed actions the Sexual & Gender Minority Research Office — established 2015, its seven employees placed on administrative leave in March 2025 — alongside the 2025 elimination of institute- and center-run peer review panels and directed removal of "biodefense" and "pandemic preparedness" references at NIAID. The account states that the office's creation followed the 2011 Institute of Medicine report and that the 21st Century Cures Act, signed December 2016, "officially mandated the inclusion of SGM populations in NIH research," and that the office was dismantled with no formal announcement. It further reports OMB refusing to release congressionally appropriated research funding after February 3, 2026.