HYDE-SMITH REINTRODUCES BILL TO ENSURE SMALLER STATES’ STAKE IN NIH RESEARCH
Bill Would Reauthorize Program, Broaden Geographical Scope of NIH Research Awards
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) today reintroduced her legislation to reauthorize and strengthen a National Institutes of Health (NIH) program to improve U.S. biomedical research capacity by distributing funding more broadly around the country.
The IDeA Reauthorization Act (S.2005) would amend the existing NIH Institutional Development Award (IDeA) program and update eligibility guidelines for states and territories to participate in NIH biomedical research projects. U.S. Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) joined Hyde-Smith in introducing the measure.
“Mississippi and other IDeA states have made notable strides in biomedical research, but the IDeA program needs to be updated to expand funding research and funding opportunities for our research institutions. Our nation, as a whole, benefits from their work despite receiving disproportionally less support from the NIH,” Hyde-Smith said. “This legislation would allow IDeA states to be more meaningfully included in major national research initiatives, while also requiring greater transparency on how NIH distributes its limited budget.”
The IDeA program was created to broaden the geographical distribution of NIH funding for biomedical research and to build research capabilities in states that historically receive lower levels of NIH funding. It helps ensure that innovation and scientific discovery are not limited to a handful of well-funded institutions.
S.2005 would update eligibility criteria for entities that could conduct biomedical research at or below the median of all states and would require the NIH to publicly provide certain data on the IDeA program annually.
The IDeA eligibility criteria have not been updated since the program’s inception in 1993 and the continuation of a 2008 program freeze risks future investments in health research and fewer research opportunities for entities in underfunded NIH states.
Mississippi is among 23 States and Puerto Rico with research institutions eligible for IDeA funding. Other states include Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
The IDeA Reauthorization Act 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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