National Library of Medicine (NLM)

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Mission Statement

The NLM Mission is to support research efforts that contribute to advancements in the field of biomedical informatics and data science, with far-reaching implications for improving health and well-being. NLM fosters the advancement of cutting-edge technologies and methodologies, contributes to biomedical informatics and data science advancement, and develops strategies to improve health.

Interest Areas

General Topics

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) supports research that advances biomedical discovery, clinical care, and public health by strengthening the data, information, and knowledge ecosystems that underpin modern biomedicine. NLM’s priorities emphasize foundational biomedical informatics, trustworthy and reproducible artificial intelligence (AI), scalable and sustainable data resources, and informatic tools with real-world impact.

NLM supports research in the following areas:

Area 1: Advancing Trustworthy, Reproducible, and Rigorous Biomedical AI
• Methods to evaluate and benchmark AI for bias, reliability, security, and generalizability
• Tools and frameworks for interpretable, explainable, reproducible, and fit-for-purpose AI
• Real-world studies of AI deployment and impact
• Scalable approaches integrating complex biomedical and health data

Area 2: Biomedical Data Infrastructure at Scale
• Privacy-preserving data linkage, federation, and integration
• Semantic interoperability and metadata harmonization
• Risk- and benefit-aware data curation and evaluation frameworks
• Standards supporting scalable, interoperable data ecosystems

Area 3: Sustainable Biomedical Reference Resources and Platform Science
• Methods to enhance usability, access, and discovery
• Approaches that support reference datasets, metrics, and frameworks for quality assurance and AI benchmarking
• Approaches that support cost-effective, interoperable platform architectures and services
• Approaches for monitoring, maintenance, drift detection, and responsible sunsetting

Area 4: Biomedical Tools and Methods—Human-Centered Use and Impact
• User-centered tools for discovery, navigation, and application of authoritative knowledge
• Workflow-integrated and validated AI for research and clinical decision-making
• Evaluation of AI safety, trust, and mitigation of inaccuracies
• Secure, public-facing tools supporting evidence-based health actions

Assistance Listing

Assistance listings are detailed public descriptions of federal programs used across government agencies that provide grants, loans, scholarships, insurance, and other types of assistance awards. They are maintained in the System for Award Management (SAM) and can be used to search for opportunities in Grants.gov.

View NLM Assistance Listing Numbers

  • 93.879 - Medical Library Assistance

Highlighted Topics

Title Lead ICO Participating ICOs Posted Date Expiration Date

Funding Opportunities and Notices

Search for NLM’s funding opportunities and notices

ICO Funding Policies and Considerations

Visit NIH Fiscal Policies for NIH-wide information on appropriations and other budgetary information (salary limits, stipends, tuition/fees) and Funding Decisions to learn about NIH's consistent and unified approach for making funding decisions.

NLM Funding Policies and Considerations builds on that general information.

Additional Information by Funding Category

Administrative Supplements
In addition to our Administrative Supplements overview, consider the following NLM-specific information.
Administrative Supplement Interest Areas:

The National Library of Medicine prioritizes its budget to maintain support for investigator-initiated research grants at the highest possible level. As a result, there is very limited flexibility to support administrative supplements. Accordingly, requests must be limited to meeting increased costs that are within the scope of the approved award but were unforeseen.

Administrative Supplement Due Dates:

Applications may be submitted throughout the fiscal year but should be requested at least 90 days prior to the anticipated need and should be submitted by May 15 for full consideration. Supplements are not awarded Oct-Nov due to fiscal constraints.

Administrative Supplement Contact:

NLM Extramural Programs

[email protected]

Conferences and Meetings
In addition to our Conferences and Meetings overview, consider the following NLM-specific information.
Conferences and Meetings Interest Areas:

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) supports high-quality scientific meetings, conferences, and workshops that advance biomedical informatics, bioinformatics, computational biology, data science, health information technology, workforce development, and library and information sciences. Meetings should align with NLM’s mission to accelerate data-driven discovery, improve access to trustworthy biomedical information, and strengthen the biomedical data science workforce. Areas of interest include standards and interoperability, knowledge representation, trustworthy and transparent AI, data stewardship, information dissemination, and human-centered health information delivery. Events must foster meaningful scientific exchange and collaboration among researchers, clinicians, librarians, trainees, and other stakeholders. NLM will not support the annual meeting of a professional organization, society, or trade group. 

Conferences and Meetings Budget Considerations:

While the National Library of Medicine will consider requests for conference support up to $70,000, typical awards have ranged between $10,000 and $25,000. 

Conferences and Meetings Key Date Considerations:
  • Accepts applications for standard receipt dates.
  • Final funding decisions are often made toward the end of the fiscal year, contingent on the availability of funds.
  • It is recommended that applicants apply well in advance of meeting/conference date, especially if requesting support to plan the event.
Conferences and Meetings Project Period Considerations:
  • Support may be provided for single conferences.
  • NLM will consider support for a series of annual or biannual conferences for up to 5 years.
  • Continued support depends on programmatic relevance and availability of funds.
Conferences and Meetings Contacts:

NLM Extramural Programs
[email protected] 

Small Business
In addition to our Small Business overview, consider the following NLM-specific information.
Small Business Interest Areas:

The NLM Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program supports the development of biomedical informatics tools and methods which are best disseminated through commercialization.

The program aims to encourage small businesses to develop innovative technologies, tools, methods, and software platforms that advance:

  • Trustworthy, reproducible, and rigorous biomedical AI
  • Biomedical data infrastructure at scale
  • Sustainable biomedical reference resources and platform science
  • Market innovative human-centered use and impact informed biomedical informatics tools and methods

Applications which utilize, integrate, or build upon data, resources, and tools fostered by NLM and NIH supported communities are encouraged. 

Approved Topics for Awards Over Statutory Budget Guidelines:

NLM does not accept budget cap waiver requests.

Clinical Trials:
  • NLM accepts clinical trials through the SBIR programs
  • NLM accepts clinical trials through the STTR programs
Small Business Contact:

NLM Extramural Programs

[email protected] 

See Also

National Library of Medicine (NLM)

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