New AAMC Report Highlights How Robust Funding for NIH Would Save Lives

• Press Release

Today the AAMC published a new report, Robust NIH Funding Saves Lives, Strengthens America, which raises awareness of the threat to America's dominance in scientific discovery if the administration refuses to distribute Congressionally-approved National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding. The administration's proposal to cut NIH funding by 40% is not just a budgetary decision - it is a decision to abandon patients, derail lifesaving discoveries, and surrender America's leadership in science.

The report includes interviews with researchers from AAMC-member institutions, including a Nobel Prize winner, who discuss how their NIH-funded studies aim to improve the health of people everywhere.

"Disrupted funding has interrupted critical research at academic health systems and medical schools across the country - and has slowed the search for treatments for a broad range of diseases, including cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's, and many other illnesses," says David J. Skorton, MD, AAMC president and CEO. "Congress must restore full funding for NIH in FY 2026, which will allow the biomedical enterprise to fulfill its commitment to improving health for every American."

In the report, the AAMC urges:

• The restoration of full NIH funding in fiscal year 2026 and the immediate release of already-approved funds - because every delay costs American lives and weakens the nation's global standing.
• The rejection of funding cuts that jeopardizes the health of millions of people and threatens to dismantle decades of U.S. scientific leadership.
• NIH must allow the federal grant process to proceed without interruption so lifesaving research is not abandoned.

The report is available here.