Why the NIH Funding Freeze Matters

The economic impact of federal funding is huge, and states with robust research profiles see a large monetary ROI from those funds. Nationwide, every dollar invested in NIH results in $2.46 of economic activity.  A snapshot at the state level shows that in FY 2023, the state of Georgia had $780M in NIH funding, supporting 11,816 jobs and resulting in $2.18B of economic activity. Universities and hospitals in the Atlanta metro area dominate the list of top NIH recipients, with 7 of the 9 listed spots. By every metric, then, whether we look at it nationally, state-wide, or hyperlocally in Atlanta, NIH funding matters a great deal to our economic stability.