On March 23, President Biden signed the final six FY 2024 appropriations bills, including the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS) and Department of Defense (DoD) spending bills. The package appropriates FY 2024 funds for many programs of interest to SGO members. Here are the highlights:
- $47.081 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is an almost $400 million decrease from FY 2023 funding levels. The National Cancer Institute received $7.224 billion and the Office of Research on Women’s Health received $76.480 million, which includes $7 million for the Building Interdisciplinary Research Centers in Women’s Health program. The increased BIRCWH funding was a top advocacy priority of the WFRC coalition, of which SGO is an active member.
- $1.5 billion for the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, representing level funding compared to FY 2023.
- $1.192 billion for the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, including $15 million for the Ovarian Cancer Control Initiative, an increase of $500,000 compared to FY 2023, and flat funding of $11.5 million for Johanna’s Law.
- SGO’s report language on endometrial cancer and obesity was formally adopted: Endometrial Cancer and Obesity.—Endometrial cancer is the most common gynecologic cancer, and the fourth most common malignancy among women in the United States trailing only breast, lung, and colorectal. In fact, in 2023, it is estimated that 66,200 new cases of uterine cancer will be diagnosed, and about 13,030 women will die from the disease. Obesity is the strongest known risk factor for the most common type of endometrial cancer, and the disease is more than three times as common in people with obesity. The Committee recognizes that obesity is a growing public health issue, and as rates of obesity continue to increase, the number of women diagnosed with endometrial cancer is also expected to rise. Therefore, the Committee requests an update in the fiscal year 2025 CJ on collaborative research efforts across NIH, other NIH-supported extramural research projects, and research efforts focusing on the link between obesity and endometrial cancer.
- The Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs were flat funded with the Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Program (PRCRP) and Ovarian Cancer Research Program receiving $130 million and $45 million, respectively. While SGO’s request for an endometrial cancer line-item was not included in the final bill, research projects on endometrial cancer can continue to be funded by the PRCRP.
The final bill and joint explanatory statement are available for review. For more details on specific funding levels and report language, check out SGO’s FY 2024 Appropriations Tracker. We appreciate SGO members’ advocacy this year and look forward to working together to advance the society’s mission in FY 2025!