Funding and Policies: The NHLBI and the Recovery Act

The NHLBI's funding plan strikes an important balance between increasing the number of investigator-initiated research grants and commitment to signature projects through the following mechanisms:

• NHLBI Research Grants
• NHLBI Participation in NIH-Wide Recovery Act RFAs
• NHLBI Participation in NIH-Wide Administrative Supplements

All Recovery Act awards will come with special reporting requirements that demonstrate how the project meets the objectives of the Recovery Act. (See the ‘overview’ section for fund plan allocations.)

Note: The NHLBI can fund only an extremely small number of contracts and does not plan to fund Competitive Revision Awards (competitive supplements).

NHLBI Research Grants: Expansion of FY 2008 and FY 2009 paylines*
The following proposals were funded by the NHLBI:

• Highly meritorious investigator-initiated (R01) applications and similar mechanisms that ranked from the 15.1 through the 25 percentile and are capable of making significant advances with a two-year grant.
• Early-stage investigators up to the 35th percentile. The first two years are being paid for with Recovery Act funds. The remaining years will be funded using usual appropriated funds.
• New investigator-initiated (R01) applications that ranked from the 20.1 to the 30.0 percentile and are capable of making significant advances in two years.

*Note: Eligible applicants were notified by the NHLBI.

NHLBI Participation in NIH-Wide Recovery Act RFAs

Active RFAs (as of November 19, 2009)

• Building Community-linked Infrastructure to Enable Health Science Research (RC4) (RFA-OD-09-010), application due December 12, 2009

Closed RFAs

• Small Business Catalyst Awards for Accelerating Innovative Research (RFA-OD-09-009)
• Biomedical Research, Development, and Growth to Spur the Acceleration of New Technologies Pilot Program (RFA-OD-09-008)
• Academic Research Enhancement Award (RFA-OD-09-007)
• Supporting New Faculty Recruitment to Enhance Research Resources through Biomedical Research Core Centers (RFA-OD-09-005)
• Research and Research Infrastructure “Grand Opportunities” (RFA-OD-09-004)
• NIH Challenge Grants in Health and Science Research (RFA-OD-09-003)

• Administrative Supplements (NOT-OD-09-056)
• Research Supplements to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research (PA-08-190)
• Research Supplements to Promote Re-Entry into Biomedical and Behavioral Research Careers (PA-08-191)
• Administrative Supplements to Research Grants Providing Summer Research Experiences for Students and Science Educators (NOT-OD-09-060)