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How The $2 Billion NIH Budget Increase Benefits You

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After over a decade of minimal to no increases in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) budget, this past Friday, President Barack Obama signed into law a bill that would increase the NIH budget by $2 billion ($30 billion to $32 billion). The sound that you probably heard was the collective sigh of (some) relief from scientists, researchers and universities, who have been struggling with the toughest research funding climate in years. But the benefits of this increased investment go well beyond the scientific and educational communities and could help you, regardless of your walk of life.

First some specifics of the new legislation. The president signed the bill shortly after the House of Representatives passed the legislation by 316 to 113 vote, with 95 Republicans and 18 Democrats voting against the legislation. The $2 billion increase will include an additional $350 million for Alzheimer’s research, $200 million for the Precision Medicine Initiative, $85 million for the BRAIN Initiative, and $303 million for combating antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

I have certainly benefited from NIH investments, such as funding from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) that supports our Global Obesity Prevention Center (GOPC) at Johns Hopkins University. But the impact of NIH investment and funding extends well beyond those who directly receive funds from the NIH. If you fall into one of the following several categories, then you probably will benefit from NIH-funded research and should pay attention to this new legislation and future news about NIH funding:

Anyone who has or could eventually have a health condition.

Last I checked, this is everyone on Earth (except for maybe Supergirl…but even she has to worry about kryptonite). Health can affect your ability to do anything. Chances are that you’ve received health advice, a medical test or a medical treatment and benefited from a public health measure that resulted from or was shaped in some way by NIH funding. This congressional report summarizes the impact that the NIH had had as of 2000. This included the observations that well over half of key medications would not exist without NIH support and that NIH research has led to changes that have saved and improved millions of lives. The impact has undoubtedly grown since this report was issued fifteen years ago. In fact, the report may underestimate the impact. For example, it did not fully account for the fact that many healthcare, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies are founded by people who at some point in their careers worked in an organization funded by the NIH...even if they do not officially attribute their products to the NIH.

Anyone who lives in the United States.

For years the United States has been a world leader in biomedicine, public health and health research and science. But this top position is far from a birthright. Many other countries such as China and Singapore are pouring resources into biomedical and public-health research. Many talented scientists have been moving to other countries due to the stagnation of NIH funding levels, which is creating a "brain drain" from the United States. Failure to keep scientific funding at least on par with inflation could also result in fewer people entering science, which could further threaten the U.S.'s position in the world.  (One of the first things that rising countries do is build their scientific activities.) Waving the flag and chanting “we’re number one” only goes so far. Maintaining any leadership or any "dynasty” requires continued investment and hard work. Complacency can bring down even the most entrenched front-runners. Just ask the Boston Celtics, the Los Angeles Lakers, the television show The Office and the Detroit auto industry. Moreover, with the healthcare industry so large and employing so many people, success of the industry could benefit the overall economy. For example, the Johns Hopkins medical institutions alone, which includes the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, School of Medicine and Health System, is the second largest employer in the State of Maryland (and this does not even include the many other parts of Johns Hopkins University that also receive NIH funding).

Anyone who lives in a country that uses health knowledge or products from the United States.

As the spreads of the 2009 influenza pandemic, Ebola, Twitter, news of the Kardashians, the Macarena and "Gangham Style" have demonstrated, the world is highly interconnected. Nearly every country uses medications, vaccines, diagnostics or public health measures that have been touched in some way by NIH-funded research.

Most professions, industries and businesses.

The connection between pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device and healthcare companies and NIH funding should be obvious as development of many of these companies' products started with NIH funding. But healthcare and public health are pervasive. Perhaps you’ve heard of the game “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon,” in which you try to determine how closely any actor or you are connected to Kevin Bacon, who has been in roughly one hundred million films (OK, perhaps I am exaggerating). The theory is that Kevin Bacon has acted alongside so many people that every actor (and potentially everyone) is connected to Kevin Bacon by at the most six degrees (for example, mine is two degrees, since I know someone who knows Kevin Bacon.) Try the same game with your business, company, or organization and NIH-funded research and its output. If your organization is in the health sector in any way (e.g., Google and Microsoft have activities in healthcare) or has any clients in the health sector, the answer is one degree. If your organization has health insurance or any type of employee health program, the answer is one degree. If your organization is affected when employees aren’t healthy or get sick (e.g., obesity results in substantial amounts of lost productivity), the answer is one degree. If your organization offers products or services that affect health in any way (e.g., food, beverages, entertainment, sports or clothing), the answer is one degree. If your organization offers products or services that are affected by health in any way (e.g., the National Football League is affected by injuries and the fashion and clothing industry is affected by the obesity epidemic), the answer is one degree.

Pets.

If you are a pet, the NIH also funds research in animal health, including the prevention and treatment of different diseases. (Also, if you are a pet, please feel free to enter a comment in the comments section).

If you don't fall into one of the above-mentioned categories, please let me know as I may want to do a story on you. If you do fall into one of the categories, which is probably most of you, then the recent news of increased NIH funding will somehow affect you, perhaps more and more positively than you realize .