Federal research: NIH should take further action to address foreign influence : testimony before the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, U.S Senate
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Contributor(s):
- United States. Government Accountability Office. issuing body. United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. issuing body.
- Publication:
- Washington, DC : United States Government Accountability Office, April 22, 2021
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- Biomedical Research -- legislation & jurisprudence Conflict of Interest -- legislation & jurisprudence Disclosure -- legislation & jurisprudence Government Regulation International Cooperation -- legislation & jurisprudence United States National Institutes of Health (U.S.)
- Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- Why GAO did this study. The federal government reported expending about $44.5 billion on university science and engineering research in fiscal year 2019. The Department of Health and Human Services funds over half of all such federal expenditures, and NIH accounts for almost all of this funding. Safeguarding the U.S. research enterprise from threats of foreign influence is of critical importance. Recent reports by GAO and others have noted challenges faced by the research community to combat undue foreign influence, while maintaining an open research environment. This testimony discusses (1) NIH’s conflict of interest policy and disclosure requirements that address potential foreign influence, (2) NIH’s mechanisms to monitor and enforce its policy and requirements, and (3) the steps NIH has taken to address concerns about foreign influence in federally funded research identified by stakeholders. It is based on a report that GAO issued in December 2020 (GAO-21-130). What GAO recommends. In its December 2020 report, GAO recommended that NIH define and address non-financial conflicts of interest in its policy. NIH concurred with our recommendation and has recently updated its grant application forms and instructions to require that applicants more fully disclose nonfinancial interests, including foreign activities and resources. However, NIH has not yet updated its conflict of interest policy.
- Copyright:
- The National Library of Medicine believes this item to be in the public domain. (More information)
- Extent:
- 1 online resource (1 PDF file (11 pages))
- Illustrations:
- Illustrations
- NLM Unique ID:
- 9918317786406676 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/9918317786406676