On Aug. 10, 2026, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), an independent research organization at the University of Washington, announced it has received a $540.2 million landmark 10-year grant from the Gates Foundation to strengthen freely available, scientifically rigorous health evidence used by governments, researchers and leaders to improve the health and well-being of people in Washington, the United States and around the world.

IHME is part of the UW School of Medicine, and the new grant will provide long-term support for expanding the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study to provide health data for thousands of new areas. GBD is the most comprehensive assessment of health trends and conditions across countries. Under the grant, GBD will expand from roughly 925 locations today to nearly 5,000 — a major expansion in the geographic detail available to the people making decisions. The grant will also support IHME’s health forecasting and future-scenarios work, and its tracking of health spending worldwide.

Together, these resources help decision makers, researchers, and health professionals understand the health challenges people face today, anticipate what is coming next, and determine how limited resources can be used most effectively to improve health.

The Gates Foundation, along with the state of Washington, provided the founding investment that established IHME at the University of Washington in 2007, creating an independent institute dedicated to measuring the world’s most pressing health challenges and evaluating whether policies and programs are improving people’s lives. Its sustained support has helped build the field of health metrics itself. IHME has developed many of the methods and standards the field now relies on and has helped collaborators contribute to the field as well. The new grant builds on that longstanding partnership and provides a base for IHME’s next phase of growth.

The Global Burden of Disease network has grown to more than 20,000 collaborators in over 150 countries and territories: researchers, clinicians, government analysts, and policymakers who contribute to the study’s data and methods and carry health measurement into their own institutions and ministries. This next phase of IHME’s work is an opportunity to consolidate that foundation and extend it considerably further. The award is the largest charitable grant ever given to the University of Washington.