Remarkable Moments: Our NIH Award

December 16, 2014 - The Possible Team

This fall, our Chief Programs Officer Duncan was awarded an Early Independence Award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) —the largest source of funding for medical research in the world. 

Learn more about the award, our work, and why this is truly an incredible moment for Possible from Duncan himself.

Why it matters

More scientific data needs to be developed to enable policy makers and managers to better design and evaluate programs within global health. Without data to drive performance, healthcare systems tend to become more complex, costly, and harmful overtime.

What we’re doing with the funding

The funding will be used to scientifically assess certain aspects of our rural healthcare delivery model.

The first step is creating an innovative way to track patients at the facility and community level. We are developing an integrated electronic medical record that will enable us to track patients from hospital, to clinic, to home, and back. We are also developing a comprehensive health surveillance system that enables us to evaluate population level impact and prepare our team (and, eventually, Nepal) for epidemic threats like cholera, influenza, and ebola.

Why this award is remarkable

This is a substantial investment in global healthcare delivery science, and it’s quite competitive and rare to be awarded this grant at an early stage. The five years of flexibility and support of the NIH’s “high risk, high reward” mechanism is truly unparalleled.

What this means for our future

Being able to develop a rigorous impact evaluation framework improves our ability to design, to iterate, to scale, and to effect policy change. Our revenue model depends on achieving government investment for core operations and service delivery; teaching revenue for improving rural healthcare professional development and education; and research funding for impact evaluation. This model enables us to leverage philanthropic investment for innovation and capital expansion, and effectively put our patients first.

 

Continue on to learn more about our impact.

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