Statement From HIVMA Chair Colleen Kelley, MD, MPH, FIDSA, in Response to NIH Funding Cuts
 

The immediate and drastic cut in National Institutes of Health funding for biomedical research by changing the indirect cost reimbursement rate to research sites, including many universities, will destabilize America’s standing as the worldwide leader in driving scientific and medical innovation and discoveries that save lives and keep our country safe. Research programs across the country are dependent on sufficient funding to execute complex, cutting-edge biomedical research that advances health for all people.   
 
HIV research is one of the most powerful examples of the return on investments made by NIH. It is because of NIH funding that there are incredibly effective options for treating and preventing HIV — discoveries that have improved health for millions of people in the United States and worldwide. These groundbreaking discoveries have made it possible to end HIV as an epidemic and have spurred novel treatments for cancer, viral hepatitis and tuberculosis.

The workforce and infrastructure needed in universities and other research sites across the country to make trailblazing research possible will crumble without sufficient funding. We urge the Administration to prioritize our nation’s health and health security and immediately suspend the reduction in the indirect cost reimbursement rate.

--Colleen Kelley, MD, MPH – Chair, HIVMA