Assistance program
Vision Research
$5.6 Billion committed in FY2018–FY2026
- Agency
- National Institutes of Health, Health and Human Services, Department of
- Assistance
- Project Grants
- CFDA number
- 93.867
- What it does
- 1) To support eye and vision research projects that address the leading causes of blindness and impaired vision in the U.S. These include retinal diseases; corneal diseases; cataract; glaucoma and optic neuropathies; strabismus; amblyopia; and low vision and blindness rehabilitation. 2) To increase understanding of the normal development and function of the visual system in order to better prevent, diagnose, and treat sight-threatening conditions; and, to enhance the rehabilitation, training, and quality of life of individuals who are partially-sighted or blind. 3) To support a broad program of basic vision research through grants and cooperative agreements; to encourage high quality clinical research, including clinical trials, other epidemiological studies, and health services research; to encourage research training and career development in the sciences related to vision; and to sponsor scientific workshops in high priority research areas to encourage exchange of information among scientists. 4) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program: To increase private sector commercialization of innovations derived from Federal research and development; to encourage small business participation in Federal research and development; and to foster and encourage participation of socially and economically disadvantaged small business concerns and women-owned small business concerns in technological innovation. Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program: To stimulate and foster scientific and technological innovation through cooperative research development carried out between small business concerns and research institutions; to foster technology transfer between small business concerns and research institutions; to increase private sector commercialization of innovations derived from Federal research and development; and to foster and encourage participation of socially and economically disadvantaged small business concerns and women-owned small business concerns in technological innovation.
- Who benefits
- Any nonprofit or for-profit organization, company, or institution engaged in biomedical research.
- Who applies
Committed by fiscal year
* FY2026 is year-to-date — the fiscal year is still in progress, so its total is still filling in. The striped band and dashed line mark that provisional stretch.
How the money flows
Committed dollars by how this program's money is paid out.
Direct payments
$4.2M
<1%
Grants
$5.6B
100%
Top recipients
By dollars committed.
How to read these numbers
- Committed through this program
Money committed under this assistance listing (its CFDA program), counted in the year each action happened.
- How it's paid
Most programs pay out one way — a grant, or a direct payment to individuals; the flow bar only appears when a program genuinely mixes types.
- Some recipients aren't itemized
For entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare, the government reports one aggregate instead of naming tens of millions of people, so the recipient roster isn't part of the public record.
- Awards, counted once
An award count is the number of distinct awards with at least one action that year — each counted once, however many times it was amended.
- The colored bars
Every bar on this page splits by how the money moves:
Direct payments