Research funds in Nevada are limited. Federal cuts for medical studies may make it worse.
Read the full article in The Nevada Independent
Every summer for the past 25 years, the Shakespeare Ranch in South Lake Tahoe has opened its gates for a festival and rodeo.
But the event isn’t just about bull riding, barrel racing or barbecue.
It’s hosted by the Keep Memory Alive Foundation as a creative way to fund neurological research into degenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s at the foundation’s Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas.
The rodeo is one example of the many 5K runs, galas and other fundraisers in Nevada and across the country that are sponsored by foundations, nonprofits and professional societies to raise research funds.
While more visible, these kinds of fundraisers are a small part of the research funding pie. An analysis from the nonprofit medical and health research advocacy alliance Research!America indicates that this kind of funding makes up about 1.2 percent of all the medical research spending in the United States. That’s good for the fourth largest source of medical research spending after industry (66 percent), the federal government (25.1 percent) and academic and research institutions (6.9 percent).
It’s federal threats to that second category of federal government-backed spending for research (the majority of which stems from the National Institutes of Health (NIH)) that has experts and health care professionals worried.
“There’s no way foundations can fill the gap,” said Ellie Dehoney, senior vice president of policy and advocacy for Research!America. “[Research infrastructure] is like a bridge. If you ignore it, it’s going to degrade and collapse. If we let certain university labs languish, and then more and more of them languish, we’re going to lose years and decades of progress.”
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Dehoney and other experts interviewed by The Nevada Independent said the funding for research not only leads to innovations, but also benefits patients by offering them cutting-edge medical treatments or clinical trials, attracts students wanting research-intensive universities and draws medical providers to a state with a provider shortage.
Of the more than $32 million that Nevada received in NIH funding for 77 projects in the 2024 fiscal year, Research!America estimates that it generated nearly $200 million in economic activity, including supporting 890 jobs. In 2024, NIH reported that every dollar of its funding generated approximately $2.46 in economic activities.
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