NIH Director Shares New Policy to Drive Grant Funding Decisions

The National Institutes of Health will no longer use funding cutoff points, also known as paylines, as the primary driver of funding decisions, the agency’s chief said Wednesday.

“I’m empowering the institute and directors to choose a portfolio that matches the needs of the field and the needs of the people that we serve, which is the American people of the world,” NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya said in his keynote at the Research!America National Health Research Forum.

“These are not political,” Bhattacharya added. “These are strategic plans about scientific opportunities articulated every few years—does the portfolio contribute to balance ...