The National Institute of Mental Health and the Stimulus Package
To: List NIMH-E-NEWS
Subject: NIMH and the Stimulus Package
As you are all aware, on February 19, 2009 President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) providing $10.4 billion for use over the next two years (2009 and 2010).
NIH and NIMH are extremely grateful to President Obama and the Congress for recognizing both the economic and health impacts of biomedical and behavioral research and affording, through the ARRA, to provide economic stimulus to the Nation, while furthering our mission to uncover new knowledge that will lead to better health for everyone. Investing in American science will have an impact beyond the funding horizon of this Act.
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) will receive approximately $350 million dollars and will use these funds to support basic and clinical R01 grants, supplements to existing grants, and grants funded through a new two year RO-1 program called the NIH Challenge Grants in Health and Science. The Challenge Grants program will support studies that address scientific and health research gaps that rapidly generate outcomes. This is an exciting opportunity to jumpstart many of the initiatives in the NIMH Strategic Plan while helping the nation’s recovery by providing jobs and research support for scientists around the country.
The ARRA stipulates that all stimulus money must be spent within 2 years, requiring NIH and NIMH to establish an unusually quick turnaround for high-impact, short-term projects. In addition, there will be extensive reporting requirements for these funds, so that the outcomes of this extraordinary investment can be monitored. In the next week, NIH and NIMH will announce specific initiatives and mechanisms by which these funds will be invested. We urge you to closely monitor developments as disseminated through the NIMH Web site. ( http://www.nimh.nih.gov )
In addition, more information about the ARRA and NIMH’s plans may be found in the NIMH Director’s Corner ( http://www.nimh.nih.gov/about/director/index.shtml ) on the Web site.