The National Health Council (NHC) has launched an online database to support medical breakthroughs by helping researchers with worthwhile projects find additional research funding opportunities from non-governmental institutions.
On HealthResearchFunding.org, researchers can post their peer-reviewed grant proposal abstracts and contact information, to then be accessed by leading patient advocacy organizations for funding consideration. The database connects researchers to alternate, previously inaccessible financial support.
Hughes believes that the new database—created with guidance from NIH representatives—will provide outside, nongovernmental support to additional research projects that will advance care and treatments for people with chronic diseases and disabilities.
NHC member groups are encouraging researchers who have gone through the organization’s own peer-review process to join the database as well. The database is currently open to patient advocacy organizations affiliated with the NHC. “We haven’t opened it up to business and industry as of yet, or to other non-profit organizations involved in healthcare, but we hope to expand the database to include other member organizations and hopefully to the broader scientific community,” says Hughes.
