VUMC Layoffs Take Effect

Vanderbilt University Medical Center has begun layoffs due to federal budget cuts. 

While the medical center would not specify how many employees are set to lose their jobs, VUMC confirmed in a statement to Scene sister publication the Nashville Post that hiring has been paused and some positions have been eliminated, with various personnel having been dismissed. 

“In response to reductions in federal funding, VUMC is strategically reducing operating costs,” spokesperson John Howser says in a statement. “Hiring for most research and administrative positions has been paused and some positions have been eliminated.” 

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President Donald Trump has proposed a national budget that would cut allocation by $18 billion to the National Institute of Health, which provides federal funding to universities and hospitals for biomedical research, including VUMC and Meharry Medical College.  

At the end of March, VUMC president and CEO Jeff Balser told faculty and staff that the medical center would reduce its budget by $250 million for the fiscal year set to begin July 1. At the time, the Vanderbilt Hustler reported that cuts would mostly impact research operations and administration, including human resources, IT and finance, and some “people working in those programs will be unable to continue at VUMC.” 

At the time, the university spokespeople announced plans for “cost-saving measures” but did not expressly discuss layoffs. 

Despite the personnel cuts, the hospital will continue to hire direct service staff in preparation for its Jim Ayers Tower on 21st Avenue South. Standing 15 floors and sitting near Medical Center Drive, the $500 million Ayers Tower will add 180 inpatient beds, 600 parking spaces and 44,000 square feet of operating room space. It represents the largest expansion in history for the facility.

“VUMC is continuing to hire frontline staff for its health system to accommodate ongoing growth in patient care and in preparation of the October opening of the 180-bed Jim Ayers Tower,” Howser says in his statement. 

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The layoffs come on the heels of the medical center being forced to eliminate all diversity, equity and inclusion programs because the Trump administration demanded that all entities receiving federal funding end such programs. U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn recently accused the university of concealing DEI programs. 

In addition, Metro Nashville recently sued the Department of Health and Human Services (which oversees the NIH) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, for cuts to grant funding, a move the city alleges are unconstitutional. 

Metro also sued the Trump administration in an effort to recover $14 million for two grants awarded, but never paid. Nashville is one of five major cities and 11 nonprofit groups in a part of that lawsuit. 

This article was first published by our sister publication, the Nashville Post.