Life for the American people. It's central to the Make America Healthy Again initiative. The NIH plays a leading role in confronting the chronic disease crisis, advancing rigorous nutrition science, prioritizing prevention, and so much more. Chronic disease remains the leading cause of death and disability in the United States, driving most health care costs, and affecting millions of Americans. NIH is intensifying investment in research that identifies the root cause of these conditions, enables earlier, more effective interventions, including studies that integrate genetics, behavior, environment, and diet. Diet is a major driver of chronic disease risk, yet critical gaps remain in understanding how specific foods affect health. Ultra-processed foods now account for about 60% of daily caloric intake, with growing links with obesity and metabolic conditions. To address this, NIH is supporting multi-disciplinary research, advancing targeted interventions to address chronic disease at its source, so we can make America healthy again.
The NIH continues to deliver measurable progress by building on decades of foundational science. Our sustained investment in basic research is resulting in transformative clinical advances across multiple areas of medicine. In 2019, President Trump announced the Ending the HIV Epidemic Initiative, predicting that we could essentially eliminate HIV in the United States by 2030. Decades of NIH investments in basic science laid the groundwork for drugs like lenacapavir, a long-acting antiretroviral agent. A single injection lasting 6 to 12 months offers near total protection against HIV acquisition. Together with other antiretrovirals also supported by NIH research, this provides a credible pathway for ending HIV transmission in the United States in coming years. Gene-based therapies have never shown more promise than they do now. CRISPR-based gene editing has led to not just one, but two treatments that can cure sickle cell anemia, this disease long thought untreatable. And NIH-funded researchers built on this same platform to deliver personalized therapy to an infant with a rare and previously fatal condition, baby KJ. Enabled by the NIH Common Fund, this treatment edited genes directly in the liver to correct a lethal mutation so that baby KJ will live a long and healthy life.
NIH is harnessing advances in artificial intelligence and data science. For example, NIH-supported researchers recently developed AI tools to match patients to clinical trials more efficiently, reducing the barriers to participation and accelerating access to potentially life-saving therapies. NIH is advancing partnerships to expand the frontiers of biomedical science. We're proud to work with NASA on the Artemis 2 mission through the Avatar project, which uses cells from astronauts to create organs on a chip biosystems. I think my colleagues have brought an example of this we can show around to show how it models how deep space radiation and microgravity affect human biology. You may be asking how this helps the average American. Well, microgravity reveals aging-related changes in cardiovascular, immune, and musculoskeletal systems, and this work informs treatment for chronic diseases here on Earth. While innovation is critical, affordability remains essential. Drug repurposing is a powerful lever to reduce the cost and accelerate access to this new technology. Testing FDA-approved drugs for new indications can happen faster and with less risk than for new drugs. NIH-supported studies suggest a shingles vaccine called Zostavax may reduce dementia risk, and my colleagues at the National Institute on Aging are organizing a roundtable on this. Terazosin, long used for benign prostatic hyperplasia, shows potential for Parkinson's disease. While more research is needed, this approach allows us to deliver interventions more cost-effectively while maintaining scientific rigor.
We're improving how science is conducted and funded. NIH is advancing a coordinated agency-wide effort to improve rigor, replication, and reproducibility, including the Common Fund Replication Initiative, and new investments of approximately $100 million to validate key findings. I'm grateful to Congress for making that possible. These efforts ensure the NIH-supported science is reliable, generalizable, and ready to inform clinical care. The NIH fosters innovation by supporting a balanced research portfolio through a unified funding strategy. The NIH is strengthening its ability to curate portfolios that span the full spectrum of scientific approaches and align with national priorities. We're working to broaden the geographic scope of funding, strengthening research capacity in institutions across the country, while expanding the use of human-based research models to improve translatability, responsibly reducing animal use when appropriate. Let me just finish with just a bit. The strength of American biomedical research lies in its rigor, transparency, and its early-stage investigators. Its ability to deliver durable results. Our role as careful stewards of resources entrusted to us ensures that every taxpayer dollar produces reliable knowledge, produces measurable health gains, and has a lasting public benefit. We remain committed to scientific excellence and to improving the health of all Americans. Thank you, and I look forward to your questions.
