title: Funding mechanisms and program management at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute: confronting new challenges and exploring new opportunities.
abstract: Over the past 8 years, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) budget appropriation has lost purchasing power, with erosion of the benefits of the doubling of the budget less than a decade ago. For the first time in 40 years, the NIH appropriation in fiscal year 2011 was 1% less than in the previous year. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) has been closely managing its funds to protect its core functions: support and conduct of research, and training of biomedical research scientists. Rigorous evaluations of funding mechanisms, management of clinical studies, set-aside programs and funding guidelines are designed to help the Institute, in consultation with its advisory council, to minimize the long-term impact of extreme resource limitations on the advance and conduct of science. This report describes some recent actions taken by the NHLBI to maximize support for investigator-initiated research, maintain a balanced portfolio, and provide as much support as possible for established and early-stage investigators.
authors.affiliation: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. shurinsb@nhlbi.nih.gov.
authors.forename: Susan B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Shurin
mesh_terms: D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000191:economics* / Q000639:trends; D002017:Budgets / Q000639:trends; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006801:Humans; D054555:National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (U.S.) / Q000191:economics* / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000639:trends; D012109:Research Support as Topic / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000639:trends; D058012:Small Business / Q000191:economics / Q000639:trends; D014481:United States