"Policy Research at the National Institutes of Health: An Imperative in Peril" co-authored by University Professor Jennifer Karas Montez, along with 30 top health policy researchers, was published in Health Affairs Forefront, warning that recent actions by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) could have grave consequences for public health in the United States.

Citing an August report in Nature that NIH has begun turning away grant applications meant to inform policymakers and legislators because, according to an internal NIH memo, policymakers “are not considered a stakeholder group within the scope of NIH’s mission,” the group writes: “For those of us who conduct or draw upon research on how laws and policies affect health, this was a startling declaration—and the clearest signal yet that NIH may be retreating from a longstanding commitment to studying the policy determinants of health.”

The following is an excerpt:  

This is a pivotal moment for public health. Research has generated substantial evidence that law, policy, and social conditions shape both the level and distribution of health. At a time when health inequities remain substantial, life expectancy gains have stalled, and many communities continue to struggle with chronic disease, addiction, and violence, policy remains both a major determinant of health and one of the most powerful tools available to improve it. Retreating from policy research would therefore represent more than a shift in funding priorities. It would weaken the nation’s capacity to understand and address the conditions that shape health.

For more than a century, NIH has pursued a broad mission aimed at generating knowledge that protects health, prevents disease, and improves well-being. That mission has always included inquiry into the behavioral, social, and policy determinants of health. Improving health requires interventions at multiple levels, from molecular biology and clinical treatment to changes in behavior, institutions, and public policy. Evaluating all of these interventions is consistent with NIH’s history, its congressional mandate, and its commitment to improving the health of Americans. We urge NIH’s leadership to reject an artificially narrow conception of health research—and if it will not, Congress and the public should require it to do so.

Understanding the health consequences of policy is not peripheral to NIH’s mission. It is central to it.