In April, the University of Oregon signed onto a stakeholder letter encouraging Congress to fund the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the FY26 budget at a level that allows NIH’s base budget to keep pace with the biomedical research and development price index and allow meaningful growth of roughly 6%. So far, over 500 organizations have joined the statement led by the Ad Hoc Group for Medical Research, including both the University of Oregon and Oregon Health & Science University. 

The recommendation requests $51.303 billion in funding for NIH for FY26, in addition to support for the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H). This would represent a $4.222 billion or 9.0% increase over the final FY25 funding level. The statement adds that “we note that meaningful annual funding growth for NIH has been a steadfast bipartisan national priority over the last decade and beyond.”

NIH is the largest funder of research at the University of Oregon, with over 250 NIH grants awarded in FY2023 and over $55 million in funding. Across Oregon, there are over $400 million in NIH awards for research, with over $990 million in economic activity generated.