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Congressional Testimony...Raynard Kington, Acting Director, NIH on "Stimulus" Funding Programs
Colleagues,
Excerpts from 26 March 2009 Congressional testimony from Acting Director of the NIH. In the testimony Dr Kingston explains precisely how the $10 billion NIH "Stimulus" (ARRA-American Recovery & Reinvestment Act) biomedical research program will be funded & managed...
"My testimony will be different from testimony that NIH presented in past years, because we facing unique times ... We are moving expeditiously to identify the best science and support it with the additional $10.4 billion provided by ARRA to the NIH, and obligate it within the next two years."
"... to review briefly, the ARRA provided NIH funding in the following ways:
- "It allocated $1.3 billion for the National Center for Research Resources, with $1 billion identified for extramural construction and renovation, and $300 million targeted for shared instrumentation and other large capital research equipment."
- "It appropriated $8.2 billion to NIH, of which $7.4 billion will be distributed through the NIH Office of the Director, to the Institutes and Centers of NIH, and to the Common Fund for the support of biomedical research. The remaining $800 million will be distributed by the Office of the Director to fund specific challenges and scientific priorities at the Institutes and Centers."
- "In addition, $400 million transferred to NIH by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), as directed under ARRA, will be used to support comparative effectiveness research."
- "The remaining $500 million will be used to fund high priority repairs, improvements, and construction on the NIH campus to enable the highest quality research to be conducted."
"Let me highlight some of the important work that we will support with ARRA funds."
- "...we will rapidly expand our current understanding of the genetic changes associated with a wide range of diseases and conditions..."
- "We will take steps toward using this genetic information to better inform the modification of disease for those patients most at risk..."
- "...our efforts to expand community-based research efforts, with special focus on minority and underserved patients, will be accelerated..."
- " Evaluation of the health and safety risks of nanoscale products is critical..."
"How will NIH accomplish this task?"
- "NIH is determined to seize the opportunity afforded us by the infusion of ARRA resources to develop a nimble approach to investing the money quickly with the greatest impact."
- "This opportunity is too important for us to conduct “business as usual.”"
- "... we are scrutinizing the 14,000 grant applications we received in our last round of review — applications that were already deemed highly meritorious and approved by Advisory Councils at each Institute & Center— applications that, despite their merit, we could not fund before."
- "... identifying and planning to fund those scientifically meritorious applications for two years, where the scientific plan is appropriate for a 2-year award instead of the usual 4-year award."
- " ... every Institute and Center is identifying scientific priorities that can be funded through administrative supplements. Administrative supplements will allow for accelerating the progress of a promising grant, typically by adding support for postdoctoral scientists and graduate students and key pieces of equipment."
- "Several new funding announcements have already been released."
* "...NIH created a new program called the Challenge Grant award. To kick start this program, we issued the largest Request for Applications in our history. This 220-page document lists numerous scientific topics in fifteen broad scientific areas, including: bioethics, translational science, genomics, health disparities, enhancing clinical trials, behavioral change and prevention, and regenerative medicine ... We expect to devote at least $200 million of these funds to this effort."
* "I will highlight only a few examples of the Challenge Grant topics..."
- "... biosensors and lab-on-chip technology to create novel ways to measure the body burden and sub-clinical health effects of emerging contaminants in the environment in large study populations."
- "... field testing of the most promising sensors and analysis techniques through collaboration with existing epidemiologic studies taking advantage of both new and banked tissue specimens."
- "... Research will aim to compare the effectiveness of different treatment regimens in reversing or preventing accelerated aging..."
- " ... assess the impact and ethical considerations of conducting biomedical and clinical research internationally in resource-limited countrie..."
- " ... Studies on ethical issues in health disparities and access to participation in research..."
- " ... establishment of objective, affordable and reliable pain biomarkers and measurements..."
- " ... Development of novel approaches for delivering combined diagnostic and therapeutic agents to appropriate disease sites ... hence the hybrid term, “theranostics.”"
* "Another new program is what we call the Grand Opportunity Program, or “GO grants.”"
- ...purpose of this program is to support high impact ideas that require significant resources for a discrete period of time to lay the foundation for new fields of investigation."
- "Applicants may propose to address either a specific research question or propose the creation of a unique infrastructure/resource..."
* "NIH will identify a number of Signature Initiatives that will support exceptionally creative and innovative projects and programs ...
- "Each IC is developing at least one Signature Initiative, and a number will be done in partnership across ICs and/or the Office of the NIH Director."
- "The areas being developed include an Office of the Director-led set of catalytic awards to ... ensure that we are able to reach segments of our Nation that are too often overlooked in clinical research."
* "Also, NIH will use other funding mechanisms, such as...
- "... the Academic Research Enhancement Award, or AREA grants..."
* "... to support small research projects in the biomedical and behavioral sciences conducted by faculty and students in health professional schools and other academic components that have not been major recipients of NIH research grant funds."
- " ...A research program to support new faculty, called the “Core Centers for Enhancing Research Capacity in U.S. Academic Institutions,”
- " ARRA Funds for Administrative Supplements"
* "... active NIH research grants may request administrative supplements for the purpose of accelerating the pace of scientific research..."
- (“competitive supplements”)
* ... support a significant expansion of the scope or research protocol of currently approved and funded projects."
- "As I said in my opening comments, we are grateful for your trust in NIH and your commitment to biomedical research and all the promise it brings to people here in the United States and around the world. We have employed a number of innovative strategies to quickly and wisely invest ARRA funds. We have also developed brand-new programs, such as the Challenge Grants, to help us do just that..."
Read entire testimony at: http://appropriations.house.gov/Witness_testimony/LHHS/Raynard_Kington_03_26_09.pdf
ENJOY!
CC
Excerpts from 26 March 2009 Congressional testimony from Acting Director of the NIH. In the testimony Dr Kingston explains precisely how the $10 billion NIH "Stimulus" (ARRA-American Recovery & Reinvestment Act) biomedical research program will be funded & managed...
"My testimony will be different from testimony that NIH presented in past years, because we facing unique times ... We are moving expeditiously to identify the best science and support it with the additional $10.4 billion provided by ARRA to the NIH, and obligate it within the next two years."
"... to review briefly, the ARRA provided NIH funding in the following ways:
- "It allocated $1.3 billion for the National Center for Research Resources, with $1 billion identified for extramural construction and renovation, and $300 million targeted for shared instrumentation and other large capital research equipment."
- "It appropriated $8.2 billion to NIH, of which $7.4 billion will be distributed through the NIH Office of the Director, to the Institutes and Centers of NIH, and to the Common Fund for the support of biomedical research. The remaining $800 million will be distributed by the Office of the Director to fund specific challenges and scientific priorities at the Institutes and Centers."
- "In addition, $400 million transferred to NIH by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), as directed under ARRA, will be used to support comparative effectiveness research."
- "The remaining $500 million will be used to fund high priority repairs, improvements, and construction on the NIH campus to enable the highest quality research to be conducted."
"Let me highlight some of the important work that we will support with ARRA funds."
- "...we will rapidly expand our current understanding of the genetic changes associated with a wide range of diseases and conditions..."
- "We will take steps toward using this genetic information to better inform the modification of disease for those patients most at risk..."
- "...our efforts to expand community-based research efforts, with special focus on minority and underserved patients, will be accelerated..."
- " Evaluation of the health and safety risks of nanoscale products is critical..."
"How will NIH accomplish this task?"
- "NIH is determined to seize the opportunity afforded us by the infusion of ARRA resources to develop a nimble approach to investing the money quickly with the greatest impact."
- "This opportunity is too important for us to conduct “business as usual.”"
- "... we are scrutinizing the 14,000 grant applications we received in our last round of review — applications that were already deemed highly meritorious and approved by Advisory Councils at each Institute & Center— applications that, despite their merit, we could not fund before."
- "... identifying and planning to fund those scientifically meritorious applications for two years, where the scientific plan is appropriate for a 2-year award instead of the usual 4-year award."
- " ... every Institute and Center is identifying scientific priorities that can be funded through administrative supplements. Administrative supplements will allow for accelerating the progress of a promising grant, typically by adding support for postdoctoral scientists and graduate students and key pieces of equipment."
- "Several new funding announcements have already been released."
* "...NIH created a new program called the Challenge Grant award. To kick start this program, we issued the largest Request for Applications in our history. This 220-page document lists numerous scientific topics in fifteen broad scientific areas, including: bioethics, translational science, genomics, health disparities, enhancing clinical trials, behavioral change and prevention, and regenerative medicine ... We expect to devote at least $200 million of these funds to this effort."
* "I will highlight only a few examples of the Challenge Grant topics..."
- "... biosensors and lab-on-chip technology to create novel ways to measure the body burden and sub-clinical health effects of emerging contaminants in the environment in large study populations."
- "... field testing of the most promising sensors and analysis techniques through collaboration with existing epidemiologic studies taking advantage of both new and banked tissue specimens."
- "... Research will aim to compare the effectiveness of different treatment regimens in reversing or preventing accelerated aging..."
- " ... assess the impact and ethical considerations of conducting biomedical and clinical research internationally in resource-limited countrie..."
- " ... Studies on ethical issues in health disparities and access to participation in research..."
- " ... establishment of objective, affordable and reliable pain biomarkers and measurements..."
- " ... Development of novel approaches for delivering combined diagnostic and therapeutic agents to appropriate disease sites ... hence the hybrid term, “theranostics.”"
* "Another new program is what we call the Grand Opportunity Program, or “GO grants.”"
- ...purpose of this program is to support high impact ideas that require significant resources for a discrete period of time to lay the foundation for new fields of investigation."
- "Applicants may propose to address either a specific research question or propose the creation of a unique infrastructure/resource..."
* "NIH will identify a number of Signature Initiatives that will support exceptionally creative and innovative projects and programs ...
- "Each IC is developing at least one Signature Initiative, and a number will be done in partnership across ICs and/or the Office of the NIH Director."
- "The areas being developed include an Office of the Director-led set of catalytic awards to ... ensure that we are able to reach segments of our Nation that are too often overlooked in clinical research."
* "Also, NIH will use other funding mechanisms, such as...
- "... the Academic Research Enhancement Award, or AREA grants..."
* "... to support small research projects in the biomedical and behavioral sciences conducted by faculty and students in health professional schools and other academic components that have not been major recipients of NIH research grant funds."
- " ...A research program to support new faculty, called the “Core Centers for Enhancing Research Capacity in U.S. Academic Institutions,”
- " ARRA Funds for Administrative Supplements"
* "... active NIH research grants may request administrative supplements for the purpose of accelerating the pace of scientific research..."
- (“competitive supplements”)
* ... support a significant expansion of the scope or research protocol of currently approved and funded projects."
- "As I said in my opening comments, we are grateful for your trust in NIH and your commitment to biomedical research and all the promise it brings to people here in the United States and around the world. We have employed a number of innovative strategies to quickly and wisely invest ARRA funds. We have also developed brand-new programs, such as the Challenge Grants, to help us do just that..."
Read entire testimony at: http://appropriations.house.gov/Witness_testimony/LHHS/Raynard_Kington_03_26_09.pdf
ENJOY!
CC
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