Block Grants for Breakthrough Biomedical Research

Updated: 2026.01.09 20D ago 1 sources
Replace a portion of competitive, project‑level NIH awards with larger, institutionally allocated block grants to stable research hubs (universities, independent institutes). The goal is to reduce time wasted on hundreds of small proposal cycles, fund longer‑horizon, higher‑risk projects, and stabilize investigator salaries so early‑career scientists can build labs without perpetual grant‑chasing. — Shifting some federal R&D dollars into larger, trust‑based institutional allocations could materially increase breakthrough probability, shorten the time to first independent awards, and repair a system that currently wastes researcher time and discourages long‑term science.

Sources

What’s Wrong with NIH Grants?
Santi Ruiz 2026.01.09 100% relevant
Mike Lauer (former NIH deputy director) explicitly endorses block‑grant‑style approaches in the interview as a solution to low payline, soft‑money dependence, and the excessive administrative burden of many small grants.
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