The Recovery Act and the NHLBI: Overview

Heart, lung, and blood diseases account for three of the four leading causes of death in the United States. Discovering new ways to prevent, detect, and treat these diseases – while maintaining the United States’ global leadership in biomedical research – requires investments in innovative projects and in scientists. In recent years, funding for this research lagged behind inflation, and the economic downturn has brought additional financial pressures to the nation’s research institutions – putting scientific jobs, in particular those of young and new investigators, and the research itself at risk.

The chart above illustrates the NHLBI's investment plan.

Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the NHLBI is investing its $763 million of economic stimulus funds into rigorously peer-reviewed research on the prevention and treatment of heart, lung, and blood diseases. With this funding, the scientific community has an extraordinary opportunity to advance biomedical research while creating jobs in local communities and opportunities for talented young and new investigators.

The NHLBI and its research community welcomes the confidence that President Obama and the United States Congress have placed in the National Institutes of Health (NIH). NHLBI is committed to conducting all of its activities in a spirit of public service; and with a dedication to excellence, innovation and integrity; respect and compassion for patients and research participants; and open communication with the public who fund us.



Last Updated: September 4,2009