This op-ed was written by research assistant Will King, and was published in the Times Daily, Florence, Alabama, on March 13, 2025.

 

When my grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in the mid-1990s, there were few options for therapies and treatments. As her disease progressed over the next decade, there was little that could be done until she died in 2004. I was still in elementary school when she faced this disease, which has unfortunately left me with few memories of her where she was not ill or bed-ridden. Today, however, families do not need to have the same experience – and it is thanks to American-lead healthcare and research innovations.

 

Today, there are more drug treatments, therapies, and early detection tools that doctors can use to slow disease progression, treat the underlying biology of Alzheimer’s disease, and give folks like me more meaningful and memorable time with their loved ones. These medical breakthroughs were discovered right here in the United States and made possible by taxpayer-funded federal grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to doctors and scientists at some of the leading research and clinical care centers in the country. This is an American investment for American innovation for American cures.

 

The NIH is the largest grantor of federal funding for biomedical research in the world. In 2024, the NIH awarded over $47 billion in grants to American universities, medical schools, and medical centers to support research and research-related activities right here in the United States. The mission of the NIH “is to seek fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems and the application of that knowledge to enhance health, lengthen life, and reduce illness and disability.”

 

These grants have improved treatments for other debilitating illnesses beyond Alzheimer’s disease - thanks to taxpayer-funded investments in the NIH and America’s biomedical research infrastructure. NIH-funded research has also led to the discovery of new chemotherapy drugs and immunotherapy strategies for the treatment of breast, colon, brain, and lung cancer. Federal grants from the NIH have also led to groundbreaking advances in the treatment of obesity and related diseases like diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. It is clear: Americans are living longer and healthier lives thanks to American taxpayer investment in biomedical research.

 

American taxpayer investments through NIH funding were also responsible, in part, for 99% of new drugs approved by the FDA between 2010 and 2019. Arguably the most famous of these drugs is semaglutide, better known by its brand name Ozempic, which began as a NIH-supported research grant to study the biology of Gila monsters, a venomous lizard native to the United States. Investment by American taxpayers was also responsible for the development of Keytruda—a drug that has changed the fundamental way that many types of cancer are treated and cured.

 

Recently, executive action by President Trump is threatening to derail American innovation and the development of more of these advances. The policies and executive actions affecting biomedical grant disbursement activities will impact everyone, including quality of healthcare, access to new medical treatment options, and possibly our lifespans.

 

The financial impacts of cuts and changes to NIH funding are staggering. A non-partisan economic survey found that for every single taxpayer dollar that is invested in NIH research per year, the local community recovers approximately $2.46. That’s close to a 150% return on investment directly benefitting our local communities. Nearly half a million people in the United States have stable, good-paying, and skilled jobs because of these taxpayer investments to biomedical research. These employees are smart, hard-working, educated, and dedicated professionals whose life work contributes to scientific discoveries and medical advancements. The work of these Americans has saved-and will continue to save–American lives.

 

This responsibility is not lost on me-I am one of these professionals. Born and raised in Haleyville, Alabama, I have now worked in NIH-funded research programs for 10 years, developing new treatment strategies for antibiotic resistant bacterial infections, diabetes, obesity, exercise and athletic performance, and lung cancer.

 

Continued funding for biomedical research in the United States plays a critical role in promoting and preserving America’s place in the world in biomedical ingenuity, innovation, and discovery. Just as the United States has led the world militarily, economically, and technologically for the last 100 years, America is leading the world in biomedical research and medical knowledge advancement. That global leadership in discovery is now being threatened by the actions of our elected leaders.

 

An “America First” platform requires investment in American ingenuity, innovation, and discovery. The NIH grant system is deeply rooted in traditional American ideals. At the NIH, the harder you work, the further you get in biomedical research. Grants are awarded on merit with no deference or attention paid to the researcher’s race, gender, or political affiliation. NIH grants are awarded to scientists based solely on their efforts, achievement, promise, and potential. Researchers are given seed or investment money, and the NIH encourages researchers to turn their discoveries into business ventures. As a result, NIH-funded researchers are injecting money into the local, state, and federal economies by selling American ingenuity, innovation, and scientific breakthroughs.

 

Biomedical research funding from federal grant programs and agencies like the NIH represent less than 1% of the total federal government expenditures year after year. Now, scientists like me that are supported by these agencies are living in fear that our scientific work, contributions to American ingenuity and innovation, and efforts to work under the NIH mission will be severely harmed not just in the present, but for many, many years to come.

 

Just like taxpayer investments into the NIH support American jobs, help discover American cures, and maintain American competition, the NIH now needs the support of American taxpayers. I encourage you to read more about the NIH, how the NIH budget is appropriated, and how the NIH has impacted you in ways that you might not know. You can further support this research and the Americans working on it by calling your elected representatives in Washington and at the state house to let them know that you support an America First Agenda that continues and sustains funding for American innovation for American cures for American health and wellbeing. Supporting an America First Agenda means full funding and full support for the National Institutes of Health, the crown jewel in America’s scientific research community.

 

Let’s put America first and continue to responsibly invest our taxpayer dollars right here at home in American made biomedical innovation.

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Will King grew up in Haleyville, Alabama, graduating from Haleyville High School in 2011. He went on to earn a BS in biology from Birmingham-Southern College and an MS in biotechnology from Johns Hopkins University. His career in research has taken him from Birmingham to Louisiana to New Hampshire, and he has worked in NIH-supported research programs for the past 10 years. Currently, he studies cell biology and metabolism of cancer cells and works as a research assistant at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College, an Ivy League institution located in rural New Hampshire. The views and opinions expressed in this op-ed column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Dartmouth College, the National Institutes of Health, or this publication.