The NHLBI’s Participation in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009

Office of the Director - February 27, 2009

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) signed by President Obama on February 17, 2009, provides the scientific community with an extraordinary opportunity to advance biomedical research.

Under the law, the NIH will receive a total of $10.4 billion to use during 2009 and 2010. Of that amount, $8.2 billion will be dedicated to scientific research priorities, allocating $7.4 billion to the institutes and centers and $800 million to the Office of the Director.

The NHLBI will receive about 10 percent of the $7.4 billion, an amount that is proportional to the Institute’s share of the overall NIH appropriation. That additional funding will allow us to expand substantially our investment in research in support of our mandate to provide global leadership in the prevention and treatment of heart, lung, and blood diseases -- diseases that include three of the four leading causes of death in the United States.

We have been working diligently to select the most effective research support mechanisms to use in investing our share of the ARRA funds, and we are working closely with the DHHS to ensure transparency and accountability for Recovery Act funds.

An overriding principle in making our funding decisions will be scientific merit. Although many types of funding mechanisms are likely to be supported, the NIH—and the NHLBI—will focus primarily on the following:

Recently peer-reviewed, highly meritorious applications for research project grants (R01s) and similar mechanisms capable of making significant advances with a two-year grant.
Targeted supplements to current NHLBI grants and contracts.
Challenge grants.

We welcome the confidence that President Obama and the United States Congress have placed in the NIH and our scientific community. We believe that we will more than justify their confidence by adhering to our guiding principles. We are committed to conducting all of our activities in a spirit of public service and with a commitment to excellence, innovation, integrity, respect, compassion, and open communication.

I look forward to sharing updates with you as we, as an Institute, proceed in translating our share of the ARRA funds into advances in heart, lung, and blood research that will lead to improved health for the American public.

For more details on the NIH's role in the ARRA, please visit:
NIH's Role in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

For additional information on ARRA, please visit: Recovery.Gov.

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