August 28, 2024 – In June, House Energy & Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA-05) released a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Reform Framework for Discussion that recommends broad structural and policy reforms to NIH, including consolidating the NIH’s existing 27 institutes and centers into 15 newly renamed centers; initiating a congressionally mandated commission to review NIH’s performance, objectives, and programs; and capping reimbursement of facilities and administrative expenses, among many other changes.
As a member of the coalition “Friends of the NIDCR”, ACPA is deeply concerned about the structural changes to NIH that would merge NIDCR with the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) and the National Eye Institute (NEI) into a proposed “National Institute on Neuroscience and Brain Research”. This would essentially decimate the NIDCR and its unique mission to advance dental, oral, and craniofacial research.
As a response, ACPA has signed on to a letter alongside several other dental and craniofacial organizations in opposition to the proposed changes that expresses our concerns. We will provide any updates we receive in regards to the NIH Reform Framework Discussion.
