In Letter to Employees, Mass General Brigham CEO Says Impact of Funding Cuts Remains Uncertain

Updated April 15, 2025, at 3:51 a.m.

Mass General Brigham CEO Anne Klibanski responded to funding threats against its hospitals in an email to employees on Monday night, writing that the impact of the federal funding freeze on MGB and Harvard Medical School’s other teaching hospitals “remains unknown.”

Klibanski distanced MGB’s hospitals from Harvard University in her message, emphasizing that “the government’s requests of Harvard University are not applicable to our separately incorporated and independently operated medical and research hospitals.”

“We do not set Harvard University’s policies with respect to its students, faculty and other employees, or conduct on its campus,” Klibanski wrote.

The email came just hours after a tumultuous day for Harvard, which began with an announcement by Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 that the University would not comply with a slate of demands on its diversity programming and protests policies imposed by the Trump administration last week.

Hours after that, the Trump administration paused $2.2 billion in funding to the University.

That amount is less than the original $9 billion in Harvard funding that had been threatened, most of which supports Harvard’s affiliate hospitals — including $650 million to Mass General and $390 million to Brigham and Women’s — and not the University itself.

It is currently unclear how much of the $2.2 billion frozen Monday, if any, will affect Mass General and Brigham and Women’s.

Still, Klibanski acknowledged that the freeze could “endanger the existing and future federal grants that are the foundation of our research enterprise.”

Klibanski wrote that Mass General Brigham was committed to protecting its patients and employees.

“We do not tolerate discrimination of any kind directed at our patients or our employees. We have and will continue to strictly enforce our policies,” she wrote.

Klibanski’s statement came after a letter signed by over 220 employees was sent to top officials at MGB calling on the healthcare giant to “mount a coordinated and courageous opposition” to the Trump administration’s agenda.

That letter urged MGB leaders to commit to protecting immigrant and “gender diverse” patients. Both demographics have been targeted by a raft of executive orders and funding threats by the White House. The letter also warned against “anticipatory compliance” with the administration’s priorities and pushed MGB leaders to file legal challenges against the administration as needed.

“Appeasement has never been a successful strategy and it is not one now. Institutions that comply with these demands are not spared—they are only asked to give up more,” the letter read.

While Klibanski’s email represented a partial reaction to the Trump administration’s decision to pause $2.2 billion in funding to the University, it did not provide answers to other concerns raised by the letter sent this morning.

One such concern included protecting immigrant patients. The Trump administration has overseen a major crackdown against undocumented and documented immigrants in the US alike, which has led many to avoid interacting with institutions that they worry could risk providing their personal information to immigration authorities. Many immigrants are already avoiding going out even to schools or businesses for fear of exposure to ICE officers.

“Patients should not be forced to balance a need for medical care with a fear of detention,” the letter read.

Employees on the letter also asked MGB to push back on the White House’s attack on trans healthcare, emphasizing that “families of gender-diverse youths should not be threatened with a loss of the care that they need.”

A January executive order threatened to revoke federal funding for hospitals that offered gender-affirming care to children, although the order was temporarily blocked by a federal judge. If the order proceeds, MGH will be vulnerable to losing such funding, since it is currently a provider of transgender health services.

The letter also marked the first major show of public pressure on MGB — the states’ largest private employer, with over 82,000 staff — to resist funding threats and other policies of the Trump administration which have shaken trans and immigrant communities in the Boston area.

Vandana L. Madhavan ’98, a specialist at MGH and a co-author of the letter, told the Crimson in an interview that work among her colleagues was sparked by their disappointment that Mass General Brigham hadn’t “come out with a stronger, more forceful statement.”

“A lot of the focus has been on research funding that has been threatened,” Madhavan said. “But we’re talking about all of this.”

“Our patient communities are threatened,” she continued, adding that some patients were now afraid of coming to the hospital for treatment.

In response to the letter, MGB spokesperson Jessica V. Pastore wrote that the organization has “put out extensive guidance and reassurance on immigration, travel guidance, how we are supporting any funding freezes.”

She added that MGB has had “countless sessions with experts who are helping all of our staff and clinicians navigate through the exact issues cited in the letter.”