Among the many federal government agencies and programs affected by the across the board spends cuts known as the sequestration, which took effect last March, is the National Institutes of Health.The NIH had its 2013 budget cut by 5%, which amounted to $1.5-billion dollars and about 640 research grants that were not issued. As Congress’ budget impasse lingers without a long term resolution, continued cuts to NIH threaten the progress of medical research on such vital projects as new cancer drugs and a universal flu vaccine.
Sally Rockey is deputy director for extramural research at the National Institutes of Health. She says NIH is the largest funder of biomedical research in the world.