A bold plan to transform one of America’s largest primate research facilities into a sanctuary — a move that would have been unprecedented in the history of U.S. biomedical research — appears to have stalled, though whether it is truly dead remains a matter of sharp disagreement.
The Oregon National Primate Research Center (ONPRC) at Oregon Health & Science University houses approximately 5,000 rhesus macaques. In February 2026, OHSU’s Board unanimously voted to enter negotiations with the National Institutes of Health about transitioning the facility into a research-free sanctuary — a plan that captured national attention and drew praise from animal-rights advocates.
But on July 9, OHSU President Shereef Elnahal told faculty leaders that the plan cannot move forward, citing a lack of federal funding. “NIH has no mechanism in place to fund a sanctuary conversion,” Elnahal said, according to Science AAAS, which first reported the story on July 13.
A plan, then a retreat
The sanctuary proposal emerged from a confluence of pressure. ONPRC had been cited more than 30 times for Animal Welfare Act violations between 2014 and 2022. In December 2025, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. declared the department “deeply committed to ending animal experimentation.” NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya told POLITICO in February 2026 that the agency was “working to transition at least one” primate center.
A Huron Consulting report commissioned by OHSU in January 2026 estimated that converting ONPRC to a sanctuary would cost more than $200 million — other estimates ranged from $220 million to $291 million over 8 years — with a full campus closure potentially costing $1 billion over the same period.
The Board voted to proceed in February, and a 6-month breeding pause was enacted. The university entered negotiations with NIH.
Four months later, those negotiations have yielded no funding commitment.
The funding gap
When Elnahal told faculty the plan could not move forward on July 9, ONPRC Director Rudolf “Skip” Bohm emailed employees the next day with a blunt message: “This is very good news … ONPRC becoming a sanctuary or closing is off the table.”
OHSU’s spokesperson quickly walked that back, calling Bohm’s email “not an official communication and is not accurate.” The official university position: “OHSU executive leaders have not made any decisions about whether to transition the primate center to a sanctuary.”
The ambiguity reflects a genuine impasse. NIH has updated its grant policy (Notice NOT-OD-25-163) to allow recipients to expense rehoming of research animals, but Elnahal has said this is insufficient for a full facility conversion. NIH did not respond to Science’s request for comment.
The OHSU Board is scheduled to meet on July 27 to provide an update on NIH negotiations.
Advocates push back
Animal-rights groups insist the plan is still alive. Dr. Neal Barnard, president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, told Science: “I expect NIH will get a proposal from OHSU on how to make this happen, and I expect they will find a way to make this happen.”
The Humane World Action Fund has called on Congress to redirect the $30 million appropriated for National Primate Research Center facilities toward sanctuary transition. With HHS leadership openly critical of animal research and CDC having already announced a phase-out of all monkey research, advocates see the political winds as favorable even if the budgetary ones are not.
The human dimension
For ONPRC scientists, the uncertainty has been corrosive. Wolters, a researcher cited in the Science article, described a “strange limbo” where investigators cannot plan studies or recruit staff. The February Board vote created expectations of a rapid transition; the July retreat has left the center in an operational gray zone.
The outcome of the July 27 Board meeting will determine the near-term trajectory. Until then, ONPRC continues to operate as a research facility — with 5,000 macaques, a $200 million transition price tag, and no clear path forward.
Sources
Grimm D. “Plan to turn major monkey research facility into sanctuary may be dead.” Science (July 13, 2026). DOI: 10.1126/science.zu6wupm