We published an updated funding line table a couple of weeks ago. As I thought about describing the changes in this post, what came to mind was something like the complicated plot structure of one of those Sunday-night PBS dramas. We have several themes percolating through that table. I’ll do my best to straighten them out for you.

We’re looking forward to the International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics 2017 World Congress on July 23–27 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. IAGG is the largest worldwide meeting on aging, with more than 6,000 professionals in health and aging expected to attend. I’d like to highlight a handful of sessions that you may be particularly interested in, and where you’ll be able to catch up with NIA staff.

National Institutes of Health staff are getting ready to attend the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC) 2017 in London, where dementia researchers, clinicians, advocates, and health care providers from around the world will meet on July 16–20. Some 4,000 members of the Alzheimer’s community are expected to attend, and the NIH contingent hopes to connect with you there!

The NIH Annual Pain Consortium Symposium recently took place on the NIH campus. The annual meeting, which highlights current knowledge and advances in pain research supported by the NIH and other agencies, was particularly timely, as pain management and the use of pain medications is a topic that has gripped the nation over the past year. It’s more critical than ever that we find new ways to evaluate and manage pain.

Do you know the difference between an explanatory and a pragmatic clinical trial? Many researchers are familiar with explanatory clinical trials, which look at the effectiveness of a particular intervention to improve health in a controlled setting. But what makes a clinical trial pragmatic?

The Grant Support Index. At the moment, if you bring up these words around NIH, you are guaranteed an extended conversation, meetings that run long and late, and strong emotions bubbling throughout. I suspect much the same is happening on many campuses.

As you may know, the National Advisory Council on Aging met here in Bethesda last week. Among the many actions it took was the review and approval of seven new concepts for NIA Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs). You can find brief summaries of the cleared concepts on our website.

Dr. Nancy Nadon, chief of DAB’s Biological Resources Branch, is retiring next month, and I undertake this writing with very mixed feelings. On one hand, I’m elated that Nancy will now be able to fully enjoy the benefits of retirement. But on the other hand, I’m sad to see such a fair-minded and accomplished colleague leave the NIA.

The wait was long—but the news is good! If you’ve been following events on Capitol Hill, you already know this. NIH has received a $2 billion increase in budget for this fiscal year, reflecting much-appreciated bipartisan support for biomedical research. NIA’s own budget received a monster $400 million boost for Alzheimer’s-related research, and our budget for other research areas increased at the same percentage rate as the NIH budget.

We’re excited about attending the annual meeting of the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) on May 18–20 in San Antonio. We hope you’re looking forward to exploring the River Walk and sampling some authentic Tex-Mex food. We also hope that you’ll take the opportunity to connect with NIA staff at the meeting, during scientific sessions, and at the Exhibit Hall.