HYDE-SMITH OFFERS BILL TO STRENGTHEN NIH RESEARCH CAPABILITIES IN SMALLER STATES
Bill Seeks to Ensure Future of NIH Institutional Development Award Program
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) today introduced legislation to strengthen a National Institutes of Health (NIH) program that aims to build U.S. biomedical research capacity by distributing funding more broadly around the country.
Hyde-Smith introduced the IDeA Reauthorization Act of 2024 (S.4968) to amend the existing NIH Institutional Development Award (IDeA) program and update guidelines that could expand the number of states and territories eligible to participate in the program.
“The competitive application process for NIH research dollars is always intense. We want to ensure a level playing field for smaller states with fewer research facilities so they can continue to make research advances, maintain laboratory capabilities, and foster a new generation of biomedical researchers,” Hyde-Smith said. “We should ensure that the IDeA program remains viable to research centers in nontraditional parts of the country, including Mississippi.”
Administered by the NIH National Institute of General Medical Sciences, the IDeA program is structured to broaden the geographical distribution of NIH funding for biomedical research and to enhance research capacity in states that receive lower levels of NIH funding. Currently, institutions in 23 States and Puerto Rico are eligible for IDeA funding. Mississippi has nine active IDeA awards totaling more than $17 million.
The program criteria have not been updated since the program’s inception in 1993. In 2008, the program froze the list of eligible states due to decreasing trends in success rates for NIH applications that would have allowed over 40 states to be eligible for funding through IDeA. The program freeze is still in effect, which raises concerns that the status quo could prevent future investments in health research and offer fewer opportunities for entities in underfunded NIH states.
The Hyde-Smith legislation would update eligibility criteria for entities that conduct biomedical research at or below the median of all states in total funding from NIH and would require the NIH to publicly provide certain data on the IDeA program annually.
S.4968 is supported by the EPSCoR/IDeA Foundation, Mississippi State University, the University of Mississippi, the University of Mississippi Medical Center, and the University of Southern Mississippi.
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