NIH Seeks Input on Proposal to Cap Grants per Researcher
The agency asked scientists for feedback on limiting the number of awards any principal investigator can hold. The move aims to distribute funding more evenly across institutions.
montrealgazette.comThe National Institutes of Health asked the scientific community for input on a proposal to cap the number of grants a principal investigator can hold. The request was reported by STAT on June 11, 2026. Lawrence Tabak, who spent 25 years at the agency, first as head of one institute, then as principal deputy director and later acting director, described the resource imbalance he observed during visits to universities.
He prioritized state schools and smaller institutions on those trips. Tabak said he was consistently impressed by young researchers at every campus. “There was never an institution I went to that I wasn’t blown away by a few young people,” he said.
He added that the uneven distribution of resources limited their potential. Researchers at institutions without top-tier equipment or prominent collaborators often face disadvantages when competing for NIH funding, according to the reporting. The proposal is intended to spread awards more widely.
A similar cap was proposed in 2017 but was withdrawn after objections from large research universities. The current request for comments revives the idea without specifying a timeline for any final decision.
