Funding

Why Advocate for NIH Funding?

The Parkinson’s Action Network (PAN) supports strong federal funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH).  The NIH is the largest funder of Parkinson’s disease research in the world.  It is imperative that a robust federal commitment to the NIH is maintained in order to hasten better treatments and a cure for Parkinson’s and many other diseases.

Without appropriate funding, NIH does not have the resources to engage in clinical and translational research needed to accelerate new therapies for Parkinson’s.  While PAN advocates for additional funding for NIH, we also fight for a better balance between funding for basic science and patient-oriented science, known as translational and clinical research, at NIH.

PAN works in coalition to increase federal funding for the NIH as a member of the Ad Hoc Group for Medical Research, a coalition of over 100 patient advocacy groups, academic institutions, and scientific communities, and as a member of the National Health Council, an organization of over 100 national health-related organizations that provides a united voice for the more than 133 million people with chronic diseases and disabilities and their family caregivers.

Current Funding Efforts

Congress passed an appropriations bill in December 2011 that funds the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for the remainder of FY 2012 at $30.7 billion.