Advocates for eye and vision research attending the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) 2025 annual meeting were told they must unite now to thwart attempts by President Donald Trump’s administration to slash research funding to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and downgrade and dilute the National Eye Institute (NEI).  

“This is an unprecedented time for research,” Dan Ignaszewski, executive director of the National Alliance for Eye and Vision Research, told Medscape. Speaking at the ARVO meeting, Ignaszewski said the latest budget proposal from the Trump administration would cut funding to the National Institute of Health by 38% and reduce the number of individual institutes from 27 to five. 

The proposal would see the dismantling of the NEI and merging of its operations into a new body, the National Institute of Neuroscience and Brain Research.