Commentary: Setting priorities for research funding at the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS)

Abstract

A n article in the current issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology and 2 recent articles about federal funding of medical research relative to disease burdens prompt me to describe how the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), sets priorities for investing congressionally appropriated funds. NIAMS’smission includes supporting research into causes, treatment, and prevention of arthritis and musculoskeletal and skin diseases; training of basic and clinical scientists to conduct that research; and disseminating information on research progress in those diseases. Although NIAMS’s annual budget has exceeded $500 million since 2005, we still lack sufficient funds to support all of the outstanding research proposals we receive. Hence, NIAMS does need to set research funding priorities. To advance the science of skin biology and the understanding of skin diseases, NIAMS prioritizes funding in 2 main ways. First, we aim to fund the most outstanding research proposals that we receive. By ‘‘outstanding,’’ I mean proposals that are judged most likely to move forward our basic or clinical understanding of skin biology and skin disease. Funding these scientific opportunities represents, in my view and in line with other NIH research funding policies, the best stewardship of tax dollars. Although we can never precisely predict which scientific proposals will yield the greatest returns on our investment, some proposals aremore likely to