Hinds Today

U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) introduced legislation aimed at strengthening a National Institutes of Health (NIH) program designed to build U.S. biomedical research capacity by distributing funding more broadly across the country.

The IDeA Reauthorization Act of 2024 (S.4968), introduced by Hyde-Smith, seeks to amend the existing NIH Institutional Development Award (IDeA) program and update guidelines to potentially expand the number of states and territories eligible for participation.

"The competitive application process for NIH research dollars is always intense. We want to ensure a level playing field for smaller states with fewer research facilities so they can continue to make research advances, maintain laboratory capabilities, and foster a new generation of biomedical researchers," Hyde-Smith stated. "We should ensure that the IDeA program remains viable to research centers in nontraditional parts of the country, including Mississippi."

Administered by the NIH National Institute of General Medical Sciences, the IDeA program aims to broaden the geographical distribution of NIH funding for biomedical research and enhance research capacity in states that receive lower levels of NIH funding. Currently, institutions in 23 states and Puerto Rico are eligible for IDeA funding. Mississippi has nine active IDeA awards totaling more than $17 million.

The program's criteria have not been updated since its inception in 1993. In 2008, a freeze was placed on the list of eligible states due to decreasing trends in success rates for NIH applications, which would have allowed over 40 states to be eligible for funding through IDeA. This freeze remains in effect, raising concerns that it could prevent future investments in health research and limit opportunities for entities in underfunded NIH states.

Hyde-Smith's legislation proposes updating eligibility criteria for entities conducting biomedical research at or below the median level of all states' total NIH funding and mandates that NIH publicly provide certain data on the IDeA program annually.

S.4968 has garnered support from several institutions including EPSCoR/IDeA Foundation, Mississippi State University, the University of Mississippi, the University of Mississippi Medical Center, and the University of Southern Mississippi.