Current and future NIH support of biomedical research.

Current and future prospects for biomedical research are discussed by examining two critical questions, namely, how much money will be available and how it will be spent. Context is provided first by comparing how those same questions were answered 25 years ago with what has actually occurred between 1972 and the present. The questions are then addressed for a comparable period in the future. Projections are made for future funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and examples of new research directions are described. Ample grounds are provided for optimism about the future of biomedical research and NIH funding for it.