Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Did A Rising Tide Lift All Boats? The Nih Budget And Pediatric Research Portfolio, Daniel P. Gitterman, Robert S. Greenwood, Keith C. Kocis, Rick Mayes, Aaron N. Mckethan

Political Science Faculty Publications

This paper examines National Institutes of Health (NIH) pediatric research spending in absolute terms and relative to the doubling of the NIH overall budget between fiscal years 1998 and 2003. Pediatric spending increased by an average annual rate of 12.8 percent during the doubling period (almost on par with the NIH average annual growth rate of 14.7 percent). However, the proportion of the total NIH budget devoted to the pediatric portfolio declined from 12.3 to 11.3 percent. We offer recommendations for implementing existing commitments to strengthen the pediatric research portfolio and to protect the gains of the doubling period.