National Institutes of Health (NIH) Funding
In the last three years, Congress has increased funding at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) by 23%. The NIH’s mission is to seek fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems and the application of that knowledge to enhance health, lengthen life, and reduce illness and disability. Even with these increases in over the past few years, NIH funding has not kept up with inflation and continued increases are critically necessary. NIH is the largest funder of Tourette Syndrome research and this funding is critical to building our understanding of the biological underpinnings of Tourette Syndrome and developing new treatments
According to the NIH website , “NIH is the largest public funder of biomedical research in the world, investing more than $30 billion in taxpayer dollars to achieve its mission to enhance health, lengthen life, and reduce illness and disability. In pursuing this mission, NIH improves health by promoting treatment and prevention, contributes to society by driving economic growth and productivity, and expands the biomedical knowledge base by funding cutting-edge research and cultivating the biomedical workforce of today and tomorrow.”
TAA provides critical seed funding for research that is dependent on NIH support to advance exciting findings to fruition. Every $1 dollar of TAA funding has helped researchers obtain $10 in NIH support. This additional NIH support has directly resulted in groundbreaking genetics and neuroimaging findings for Tourette and has develop Comprehensive Behavioral Intervention of Tics (CBIT).
The NIH is comprised of 27 separate institutes and centers. Tourette Syndrome and Tic Disorder research has been mainly conducted at both the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). The chart below illustrates NIH funding for Tourette Syndrome over the last three years . TAA advocates for the continued increased investment in medical research at NIH. To that end, TAA is a member of the Coalition for Health Funding where we work with other patient groups and others across the public health continuum to advocate as a group for increased NIH funding.
You can help! If you have not already done so, please take a moment to visit our action alert and quickly send letters to your Member of Congress and Senators to support the funding. If you have an interest, meeting with your Member of Congress and Senators in your state/district to discuss the importance of the program would also be very beneficial. If you have questions or want additional information on how to set up a meeting, contact [email protected] for more information.
