In 2010, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), in collaboration with the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), developed a joint initiative to co-fund U.S. and Chinese scientists to conduct collaborative basic and translational biomedical research. Researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), and the Office of AIDS Research (OAR) have been awarded through Administrative Supplements or R01 mechanisms that support projects to conduct scientifically meritorious investigations of mutual interest to both countries.
The NCI Center for Global Health has led a preliminary evaluation of the US-China Collaborative Biomedical Research Program in 2015. The report analyzes the projects funded under the program, determines whether scientific accomplishments of the projects were results of international collaboration, and identifies common successes and challenges across projects to inform future collaborative programs.
Overall, the program has funded 108 awards that generated 53 publications and 1 patent. Additional outcomes and impacts can be found in the U.S.-China Program for Biomedical Research Cooperation - Preliminary Program Review.