In April 16, 2024 at 12:00 PM HST, a researcher from the University of Hawaiʻi was awarded just over $58 million in federal biomedical research grants from the National Institutes of Health in Fiscal Year 2023. This funding generated $158 million in economic activity in the state and supported 819 local jobs. The findings were outlined in the United for Medical Research 2024 annual report, which assessed the economic impact of National Institutes of Health funding across the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
The National Institutes of Health funding awarded to researchers not only supports employment but also contributes to the purchase of research-related goods, services, and materials. This income generated from these jobs and purchases circulates through the economy to create new economic activity. The report estimates that every $1 of National Institutes of Health funding generates $2.46 in new economic activity.
University of Hawaiʻi Vice President for Research and Innovation, Vassilis L. Syrmos, emphasized the importance of NIH funding for sustaining the work of researchers in areas such as disease cures, cancer elimination, and health equity improvement among under-represented groups and rural communities in Hawaiʻi and the Pacific. Additionally, these extramural grants inject much-needed funds into the state’s economy through research-related expenditures.
Hawaiʻi received $68.7 million in National Institutes of Health funding in Fiscal Year 2023, with 85% going to the University of Hawai‘i, which accounted for 79 of the 93 National Institutes of Health grants awarded. The University of Hawai‘i Cancer Center and the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa John A. Burns School of Medicine were responsible for the majority of the National Institutes of Health-funded research projects in Fiscal Year 2023.
Nationally, National Institutes of Health funding totaled $37 billion in Fiscal Year 2023, supporting 412,041 jobs and generating $92.9 billion in new economic activity.