Fogarty’s contribution to noncommunicable disease research at NIH

March/April 2025 | Volume 24 Number 2

Photo courtesy of Sean DuffyCommunity health worker uses mobile app developed by Sean Duffy's team. 

Chronic noncommunicable diseases, or NCDs, are non-contagious illnesses with long durations and slow progress. This broad category includes heart disease, diabetes, cancer, stroke, kidney disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and mental illness. These chronic conditions often have multiple risk factors, long latency periods, and no cures.

Globally, NCDs are the leading causes of death and disability. In the United States, NCDs are responsible for about seven out of every 10 deaths. Chronic diseases are of great concern in America, and so the National Institutes of Health (NIH) focuses a substantial portion of its attention and budget on these illnesses. Given that its purpose is to advance the mission of NIH, Fogarty also makes foundational investments in worldwide NCD research and the global NCD workforce.

Fogarty advances NCD research & researchers

Of Fogarty’s 446 total grants, 43% are NCD-related. Fogarty spent 31% of its total budget of $65.5M on chronic disease programs and grants, and 60% of that $20M goes to training grants for researchers, 22% to research and 15% to career development for researchers. If co-funding from other NIH institutes and centers is included, Fogarty’s investment in NCD programs and grants tops out at $56M.

These figures, though impressive, tell only part of the story.

The Fogarty International Center provides a foundation on which other Institutes and Centers at NIH can support NCD projects abroad that can improve health in the United States. Institutes and Centers at NIH often look to Fogarty for leadership on NIH-wide global initiatives. For example, Fogarty’s Director Dr. Kathy Neuzil represents the NIH at the Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases (GACD), which brings together 12 major international research funding agencies to address the increasing burden of chronic diseases in low- and middle-income countries. Collaborating scientists at NIH also frequently request that Fogarty make introductions to institutions in various countries where collaborating programs with U.S. investigators and universities already exist. These networks, painstakingly developed by Fogarty over decades, enable American researchers to work efficiently and rapidly across the globe on health conditions that may be difficult to study within U.S. borders, such as those that occur at the intersection of chronic and infectious diseases.

Research training and capacity strengthening is a unique contribution that distinguishes Fogarty from all other Institutes and Centers at NIH. Fogarty’s investments in, specifically, NCD research training and capacity building across the globe complement the efforts of other NIH Institutes and Centers. When researchers can piggy-back off existing infrastructure, they are able to investigate hypotheses and conduct new studies with the greatest ease possible.

Two researchers, Dr. Sean Duffy, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Dr. Manoj Menon, University of Washington School of Medicine, are two examples of Fogarty researchers working to support the NCD research and training agenda of NIH. Their stories provide insight into the challenges faced by American scientists pursuing the difficult mission of global health research, while their achievements speak to the power of international scientific collaboration.

Updated April 11, 2025

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