For Immediate Release

Contact: info@stopsarcoidosis.org

RECOVERY & REINVESTMENT ACT OF 2009:
NEW FUNDING FOR RESEARCH THROUGH THE NIH

Chicago, IL (1 March 2009) As part of the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009, the National Institutes of Health has designated at least $200 million in Fiscal Years 2009 and 2010 for a new initiative called the NIH Challenge Grants in Health and Science Research which will fund 200 or more grants of $1 million each.

To distribute the funds, NIH identified a range of Challenge Areas that focus on specific knowledge gaps, scientific opportunities, new technologies, data generation, or research methods that would benefit from an influx of funds to quickly advance the area in significant ways.  Within each broad Challenge Area, each Institute selected specific Challenge Topics related to its mission.  For the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, challenge topics include ‘Management of Sarcoidosis’ (04-HL-109). The application due date is April 27, 2009.  Information can be found online at http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/funding/nih-challenge-grants.html.

The $10.4 billion allocated to NIH will be broken down in the following ways:

• $8.2 billion is appropriated to the Office of the Director, NIH: $7.4 billion will be transferred to the ICs and Common Fund in proportion to either the FY2008 or FY2009 spread; and $800 million will remain in the OD for trans-NIH initiatives.

• $1.3 billion is appropriated to NCRR; of which $300 million is for shared instrumentation and other capital equipment; and $1 billion is for extramural lab construction and renovation.

• $500 million is appropriated to NIH intramural Buildings and Facilities construction, repairs, and improvements.

• $400 million is to be transferred from the Agency of Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to NIH for comparative effectiveness research.

Sarcoidosis (pronounced SAR-COY-DO-SIS) is an inflammatory disease that can affect almost any organ in the body. It causes heightened immunity which means that a person's immune system, which normally protects the body from infection and disease, overreacts, resulting in damage to the body's own tissues. Sarcoidosis is often serious and can even be life-threatening, especially if you do not know you have it. The cause remains unknown and there is no cure.

For more information about sarcoidosis, please visit the Foundation for Sarcoidosis Web site at www.stoparcoidosis.org.