Dear Dr. Collins:
As new investigators associated with a wide range of research institutions and representing a diverse mix of basic and translational research programs, we strongly support mechanisms to reduce disparities in NIH funding, including through the Grant Support Index (GSI).
In order to launch our labs and to continue contributing to science beyond startup-funded years, we depend on NIH support. However, competition for these funds is particularly arduous for junior investigators with limited track records relative to established labs. The average age of first-time awardees remains above 40, despite almost a decade of policies intended to support new and early stage investigators. In addition, competitive renewals are increasingly difficult, limiting the number of mid-career scientists able to remain in the field. We are further concerned because the NIH budget has been in continuous decline based on inflation-adjusted dollars and is currently at risk of further cuts.
We welcome efforts like the GSI that seek to make the distribution of funding more equitable and transparent to all investigators and support those in the early- and mid-career stages. We believe these measures serve the interests of taxpayers and the sustainability of the American academic research enterprise. However, given that the agency already reports that 40% of its funding is awarded to just 10% of grantees, we are concerned that allowing exceptions to the GSI will undermine its potential for generating equity in NIH research funding. We urge the NIH to closely monitor the effectiveness of new policies to improve funding parity and to continue to explore and implement transparent practices towards this goal.
Signed,
Prachee Avasthi, University of Kansas Medical Center
Michael Cianfrocco, Life Sciences Institute, University of Michigan
Elana Fertig, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University
Clement Y. Chow, University of Utah School of Medicine
Mete Civelek, University of Virginia
Michael Feigin, Roswell Park Cancer Institute
Alice Soragni, University of California Los Angeles
Daniel Gorelick, University of Alabama at Birmingham
Lindsay Schwarz, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
Gaurav K Varshney, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation
Katherine Aird, Penn State College of Medicine
Uri Laserson, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Lillian Fritz-Laylin, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Bethany Kerr, Wake Forest School of Medicine
Joshua Bembenek, UT Knoxville
Premal Shah, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Maitreyi Das, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Chiara Manzini, The George Washington University
Christine Schnitzler, Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience, University of Florida
Mary Williard Elting, North Carolina State University
Magdalena M. Grabowska, Case Western Reserve University
Mostafa Zamanian, University of Wisconsin – Madison
Richard J. McKenney, University of California – Davis
Elisha D.O. Roberson, Washington University in St. Louis
Saad Bhamla, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta
Stacey D. Finley, University of Southern California
Melissa A. Wilson Sayres, Arizona State University
Francisco N. Barrera, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Mackenzie Mathis, Harvard University
Rosie Alegado, University of Hawaiʻi Mānoa
Joel D. Boerckel, University of Pennsylvania
Javier Apfeld, Northeastern University
Jordan D. Ward, University of California, Santa Cruz
Carolyn Rasmussen, University of California, Riverside
Matthew N. McCall, University of Rochester Medical Center
Jeremy C. McIntyre, University of Florida
Shipra Vaishnava, Brown University
Shawn Douglas, University of California San Francisco
Keerthi Krishnan, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Stephen N. Floor, University of California San Francisco
Andrew McDavid, University of Rochester Medical Center
C. Savio Chan, Northwestern University
Kevin Wright, Vollum Institute, Oregon Helath & Science University
Rebecca Riggins, Georgetown University Medical Center
Timothee Lionnet, New York University School of Medicine
Charles G. Danko, Cornell University
Medha M. Pathak, University of California at Irvine
Giri Athrey, Texas A&M University
Maria Chahrour, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
J.J. Emerson, University of California, Irvine
Luigi Marchionni, Johns Hopkins University
