About Our Health ROI

The NIH: America's Biomedical Engin

Created in 1930 (with roots reaching back to an 1887 one‑room laboratory on Staten Island), the National Institutes of Health grew from a single hygienic lab into the world's largest public funder of biomedical research. Today its 27 specialized institutes and centers channel roughly $48 billion each year into everything from basic cell biology to first‑in‑human clinical trials.

For nearly a century, NIH grants have formed the launchpad for discoveries that private industry later transforms into lifesaving treatments: the first chemotherapy agents in the 1940s, antiretroviral therapies that turned HIV from a death sentence into a chronic condition, and the mRNA vaccine platforms that helped curb COVID‑19 in record time. Without those early‑stage, high‑risk investments, many breakthroughs would never leave the lab—or would debut at prices only the ultra‑wealthy could afford.

Beyond direct health impacts, NIH funding is an economic powerhouse. Every research dollar circulates through universities, startups, and biotech hubs, generating an estimated 7‑to‑1 return in jobs, patents, and tax revenue. Cutting that pipeline doesn't merely slow science; it cedes future industries—and the high‑paying jobs they create—to nations that choose to invest where we hesitate.

Finally, the NIH embodies a uniquely American partnership: public funding de‑risks discovery, and private companies race to commercialize it, accelerating cures while keeping the U.S. competitive against the EU, China, and other rising research powers. Protecting that model isn't charity; it's strategic self‑interest—and a patriotic duty for anyone who believes taxes should work as hard as the people who pay them.

In the movies, there's always a hero or group of heros, a single person or group of individuals who overcome all the odds and save the day while the masses flail about. That, however, only happens in the movies. In reality, our salvation has to come from a collective effort, each of us taking our own part. That means listening to each other and paying attention to ideas, even if they seem far-fetched.

This post opens in a new windowsparked the idea for Our Health ROI. While we can't make t-shirts and signs, we can create form letters to send to your congressional representatives and senators. No single one of us is the hero or the knight riding in to save the day, but what this means is that if we all take action, then each of us are contributing to a heroic movement.

There's no hidden agenda here. I run no ads, collect no personal data, and the entire codebase isopen-source on GitHub opens in a new windowfor anyone to audit or improve. The whole point is to get you to take action. If only some of us act then all of us are at risk.