The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the major funder of research in gastrointestinal (GI) diseases. The National Institute for Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases’ discretionary appropriation for fiscal 2016 is $1.818 billion of the overall NIH $32.31 billion.1 As such, NIH support is essential for improving our understanding of health and disease from pathologic mechanisms to clinical trials. In theory, outside of specific request for funding applications the NIH distributes grants based on “meritorious science” as judged by peer reviewers, rather than favoring specific diseases.