UNLV professor Jason Flatt’s research into Alzheimer’s and its effect on the LGBTQ+ community was inspired by his grandmother’s social isolation and struggle with the disease. But his dreams of improving the lives of caregivers and elderly LGBTQ+ people were dashed earlier this year when the federal government canceled all federal funding toward his work — nearly $5 million in grants — on the basis that the projects dealt with transgender issues.

Jason Flatt has conducted public health research since 2013 examining how diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s affect the LGBTQ+ community.

Researchers say threats to federal research funding and President Donald Trump’s promise to eliminate any policy promoting “diversity, equity and inclusion” are threatening a decades-long effort to improve how the nation studies the health of women and queer people, or improve treatments for the medical conditions that affect them. Agency employees have been warned not to approve grants that include words such as  “women,” “trans” or “diversity."

Trump's federal funding cuts are shutting down studies on Alzheimer’s care, uterine fibroids and pregnancy risks — all because they focus on gender.

UNLV professor Jason Flatt was finalizing his $1.4 million grant in February for research related to dementia and caregiving among LGBTQIA+ veterans. Despite having received the notice of award before President Donald Trump took office, the Department of Defense revoked it afterward.

Four months ago, Tara McKay, an associate professor at Vanderbilt University, received an award from the National Institutes of Health recognizing her contributions to the field of LGBTQ+ health research.

The funding was supposed to last for at least several more months, said Jace Flatt, an associate professor of health and behavioral sciences at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. But on Friday, he and several other scientists studying LGBTQ+ health received a letter from the National Institutes of Health informing them that some existing, ongoing grants from the federal government were terminated, effective immediately.

Federal grant freezes are impacting many institutions and programs including some right here in the Las Vegas valley.