American Medical Research Saves Lives

Over the last century, NIH-funded research has helped improve the early detection and treatment of serious diseases. This research has helped doctors better identify variations in breast cancer and provided them with tools like ultrasounds, MRI machines, and cardiac implants. These innovations have increased the survival rate for breast cancer patients by 41% and improved the quality of life for people living with heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, and more by allowing for more specific and tailored treatment plans.

Americans Depend on NIH-Funded Research

Keep Up the Progress

Kids with cancer, seniors with Alzheimer’s and families looking for answers are counting on NIH-funded clinical trials and research. Each year, thousands of children join NIH-backed cancer trials, and more than 230 Alzheimer’s trials are underway with treatments now able to help slow the disease in its early stages. We’re closer than ever to breakthroughs that could help millions of Americans.

Heart Disease: prevention strategies have led to a 67.6% decrease in deaths.

Opioid Use Disorder: the development of a drug to treat the disorder has reduced the risk of dying from successive overdoses by 38%.

Breast Cancer: the five-year survival rate for breast cancer has risen from 75% to 99% when caught early.

Childhood Cancer: the development of chemotherapy has increased childhood cancer survival rates from 5% to 85%. 

Thanks to NIH research, groundbreaking treatments and therapies have prolonged people’s lives and dramatically improved their quality of life.

Imagine What’s Possible with Investments in Scientific Research

Imagine what could be possible if we continue to invest in medical research and make even more progress on the diseases that impact American families every day.

NIH Fast Facts Sheet

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News

  • Elissa Nadworny | 10.9.25

    The device is about the size of a AA battery, and it has the potential to help a baby or infant heart keep beating in the face of failure.

    It's called the PediaFlow, an implantable artificial heart for the littlest, most vulnerable humans. James Antaki, a biomedical engineer at Cornell University in New York, has been developing this medical device for the last two decades.

    Read more.

  • This Is Topeka Staff | 10.1.25

    A new bipartisan survey reveals that Kansans overwhelmingly oppose cutting federal funding for scientific research, particularly programs tied to weather and climate science. The poll, conducted by Knowledge for a Competitive America (KCA) in partnership with North Star Opinion Research and Global Strategy Group (GSG), highlights broad resistance across party lines to proposals that would eliminate such funding as part of federal budget negotiations.

    Read more.

  • Dr. Lily Shah & Matt Crosby | 9.27.25

    When Mechanicsburg resident Matt Crosby speaks about his late wife, Diane, one word surfaces repeatedly: fierce. Fierce in love and friendship, in motherhood, and in her fight against pancreatic cancer.

    Read more.

  • Ben Briscoe | 9.16.25

    Fighting back against possible budget cuts, seventeen people from North Carolina have traveled to Washington, D.C., armed with fact sheets and statistics—but their most powerful tools are their personal stories.

    “I was actually diagnosed with brain cancer,” said Ethan Davis from Winston-Salem. Speaking from his hotel room near the Capitol, he described his grueling fight through chemo, radiation, and the side effects that nearly broke him.

    Read more.

  • Ali Rogan & Claire Mufson | 9.20.25

    Brain tumors are the leading cause of pediatric cancer-related death.

    Read more.