ASE Joins Coalition Letter Urging Timely FY 2027 NIH Appropriations

On October 22, ASE joined 393 other organizations in a letter to congressional leaders urging swift completion of FY 2027 NIH appropriations. The letter thanks Congress for the short-term continuing resolution that avoided a funding lapse and urges lawmakers to finalize a robust, bipartisan NIH appropriation before year’s end, warning that the funding uncertainty and disruptions of FY 2025 and FY 2026 have already delayed clinical studies, strained research staffing decisions, and contributed to a measurable decline in PhD applications and enrollment. It also calls on Congress to build on recent safeguards, including provisions on multiyear award forward funding and the pause on proposed Uniform Guidance revisions, to protect research funding from further disruption.

This letter continues ASE’s sustained advocacy, alongside the Ad Hoc Group for Medical Research, for stable and timely NIH funding, a position ASE has taken consistently given how directly research continuity affects cardiovascular imaging research and training. Delays or instability in NIH appropriations slow the pipeline of federally funded echocardiography and cardiovascular research, disrupt trainees and early-career investigators pursuing imaging research, and threaten the long-term infrastructure, including specialized staff and equipment, that labs depend on to sustain that research, reinforcing why predictable, timely appropriations remain a core ASE advocacy priority.