In slashing 'overhead,' cuts for NIH put health at risk
By Lisa Jarvis / Bloomberg Opinion
A dramatic cut to the National Institutes of Health’s budget for grants that support research institutions will have a seismic impact on science and medicine in the U.S.; and will directly affect local communities and Americans’ access to high-quality care.
The Trump administration has targeted $4 billion in cuts to “indirect” costs for NIH research grants. Those funds, typically known as overhead, help cover the facilities and support that enable universities and academic hospitals to do world-class research. It pays for things like equipment, maintenance and administrative salaries.
These things might not seem essential, but the impact will be crippling to biomedical research in the U.S. Institutions will immediately face hard choices about projects and staff. That ultimately will affect health care for all of us, whether in the form of a clinical trial that isn’t funded, or a lifesaving drug that is never developed, or a facility that doesn’t have the money for state-of-the-art equipment.
Consider the impact on St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, which develops new treatments for pediatric cancers and diseases like sickle cell. The hospital will lose nearly $40 million a year in research funding, says Charles Roberts, director of the St. Jude Comprehensive Cancer Center. “This will likely mean fewer new treatments will get to children and therefore that more children will die,” he says.
https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/comment-in-slashing-overhead-cuts-for-nih-put-health-at-risk/