Obama Stimulus Package Allocates US$10 Billion to NIH. (February, 19, 2009)

  According to Lila Guterman of ScienceInsider US$8.2 billion of the US$10 billion of the increased funding for the US National Institutes of Health will be designated to fund grant applications already received and to supplement existing grants; US$100 million to US$200 million, will go to new grant applications expected in the next few months.

Ms Guterman also reports that acting NIH director Raynard Kington said NIH will request applications for new “challenge grants” of as much as US$500,000 per year for 2 years. These grants will be "for research addressing certain areas in science or public health that NIH thinks can advance significantly in 2 years.

According to the terms of the funding the stimulus money must be spent within those 2 years and therefore NIH is looking to existing grants and grant applications it has already received and have been favourably peer reviewed.

The acting director also made the point that he expects grantees to “hire people, make purchases and advance science”, i.e. the money is part of President Obama's economic stimulus package.