The ACSM Foundation is organizationally structured as independent from ACSM but with the objective of supporting and advancing the mission and strategic plan of ACSM. To accomplish this goal, the foundation shepherds 25 funds, with a total value over $3.2 million. Over the past two years, the ACSM Foundation has updated all governance documents (bylaws and constitution) and refined spend plans for each of the funds. Some funds were created with a limited lifespan and designed to spend down until gone, but most have been set up as endowments in which only 4% is distributed per year for its defined purpose. This endowment philosophy ensures ACSM’s legacy in perpetuity. 

A critical ACSM Foundation goal is to operate with full transparency and increase ACSM membership awareness of foundation good works, as well as provide members with the opportunity to participate and contribute to the continued legacy of ACSM. Foundation funds allow for specific research and program grants; travel awards; and diversity, leadership and training awards. 

As you look through the myriad funding opportunities available, you will see that each has a defined focus (e.g., cancer, epidemiology, athletics, nutrition, women’s health, Exercise Is Medicine®, biomechanics) or audience (e.g., graduate students, clinicians, international members). The ACSM Foundation is always open to new growth opportunities that expand the mission and opportunities for our members. With future development, the foundation intends to offer an open-ended platform that will allow ACSM membership to apply annually for 4% of the unrestricted monies available for opportunities and ideas that do not fit into existing funding awards. 

Moving forward, growth and expansion of the ACSM Foundation is our wish to better support the mission and strategic plan of ACSM. This will be accomplished by continued reinvestment of ACSM into the foundation on an annual basis as well as targeted opportunities and visions led by ACSM Foundation corporate and fellow board members. We would love to hear your ideas too!  

You too can help grow the ACSM Foundation and leave a personal legacy! Because a percentage of every gift is distributed in perpetuity, your donation (large or small) will continue beyond your career and lifetime. Wouldn’t it be amazing if every ACSM member contributed each year? This would provide unparalleled benefits and goodness in our field for generations to come. 

Mark Hutchinson, M.D., FACSM, is the ACSM Foundation president as well as professor of orthopaedics and sports medicine and head team physician at the University of Illinois-Chicago, where he has been on the faculty since 1993. Dr. Hutchinson has annually been named Best Doctor or Top Doctor in the greater Chicagoland area for over a decade and has received numerous awards for both clinical practice and teaching. He has also had the privilege to serve as volunteer physician for the United States Olympic Committee at the Paralympic Games, the Pan Am Games and two World University Games, as well tours of service with USA Basketball, USA Gymnastics, USA Field Hockey and USA Soccer. He was formerly the head team doctor for the WNBA Chicago Sky for its first four seasons.

NIH Reform

House and Senate Republicans have proposed separate plans to reorganize the National Institutes of Health (NIH), but these efforts are expected to face significant hurdles this Congress. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the NIH received bipartisan support and consistent funding increases. However, the pandemic highlighted issues such as gain-of-function research and allegations of sexual harassment, prompting renewed scrutiny and calls for reform. 

House Republicans, led by retiring Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, have introduced a comprehensive plan to consolidate the NIH’s 27 institutes and centers into 15, among other changes. This proposal was included in the fiscal 2025 funding bill, though it has been criticized by some in the scientific community as lacking a scientific basis. 

In contrast, Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee ranking member Bill Cassidy is advocating for improvements in the NIH’s grant approval processes and biomedical workforce. Cassidy’s proposals are seen as more collaborative and have not yet been formalized into legislation. 

Despite these proposed changes, both the House and Senate are maintaining or slightly increasing NIH funding levels for the upcoming fiscal year. The House bill proposes steady funding at $48 billion, while the Senate bill includes a modest increase to $50.2 billion, with additional funds for cancer research and new authorities related to addressing sexual harassment. Smaller reforms proposed in the Senate are considered more likely to advance this Congress compared to broader overhauls. 

Appropriations

Congress adjourned for August recess with minimal progress on the 12 annual spending bills necessary to fund government agencies and programs. Federal financing is set to expire on September 30, which could lead to significant disruptions within federal agencies important to ACSM members. 

The Republican-controlled House has passed five appropriations bills, but these include deep budget cuts and contentious cultural provisions, making them unlikely to become law. Meanwhile, the Democratic-controlled Senate has passed seven bills through committee with broad bipartisan support but has yet to vote on them in the full Senate. 

Given the August recess, Congress is expected to rely on a “continuing resolution” (CR) to avoid a government shutdown. The need for such a stopgap measure is anticipated as lawmakers return just before the deadline.  

Key negotiators agree on potentially adding disaster relief funding for areas impacted by recent crises, but significant disagreements remain. Democrats favor a short-term CR extending past the November elections but ending before the year's end, allowing for reevaluation of priorities. House Republicans are open to a longer CR extending into 2025, which could align with hopes of a Republican presidential win and increased conservative control. Both parties are cautious about extending funding too far into the next year, potentially complicating the next president’s budget negotiations. 

As a dietitian in the United States Army, many soldiers have sought nutritional advice from me with the goal of gaining muscle or bulking up before going to Ranger School. Many professional and recreational athletes likewise want to intentionally gain weight for reasons that include increased strength or power or being at a heavier body weight than the opponent to gain a competitive edge.  

But current sports nutrition guidelines for intentional weight gain are based more on estimates and assumptions than evidence, as very little research has been conducted in this area. The commonly recommended starting point for an energy surplus is an additional 500 kcal per day, which may be incorporated by adding one or two additional energy-dense snacks or beverages. This additional energy may be from whole foods that have been minimally processed in consideration of both the health (short and long term) and performance of the athletic individual. 

For our study, “A Randomized Trial of Healthy Weight Gain in Athletic Individuals,” recently published in Medicine & Science in Sport & Exercise®, we explored whether current performance nutrition guidelines of a ~500 kcal/day surplus along with rigorous resistance training promoted healthy weight gain, which we define as being mostly lean with minimal gains in adiposity and no ill health effects. We included 32 athletes (19 men, 13 women) from a variety of athletic backgrounds, as this accurately represents the reality of a sports dietitian’s work. Of note, we were able to recruit a number of female participants, an understudied population in this area of research. 

Instead of providing participants with ultra-processed snacks, high-energy supplements or mass gainers, we prepared our 500 kcal snacks each week from minimally processed foods. To investigate a possible difference in healthy weight gain between the two commonly discussed macronutrients in sports nutrition, we randomized our participants to a protein-dominant or carbohydrate-dominant snack group. Two examples of our protein-dominant snacks include a smoothie (natural peanut butter, banana and whole milk) and a handful of peanuts, raisins and spicy cheese. Examples of our carbohydrate-dominant snacks include a smoothie (frozen blueberries, strawberries, fresh spinach, orange juice, avocado, extra-virgin olive oil and sugar) and a handful of dried mango, dried cranberries and butter crackers. 

The key takeaway of our study is that current performance nutrition guidelines for healthy weight gain worked for about half of our participants by the end of our 10-week intervention, with no adverse health outcomes (fasting blood lipids, blood glucose and blood pressure). Furthermore, the total weight gain was about ~70% lean mass. A surprising result was that our carbohydrate-dominant snack group gained more weight than the protein-dominant snack group, though lean mass gain was not statistically different between groups. 

We must continue to investigate what factors contributed to a more or less efficient weight gain among our participants, or in other words, what factors help explain why some athletes gain weight and others seem to be hard gainers. These factors likely include individual characteristics such as age, sex, resistance training history, hormonal profile and changes in metabolism or appetite that occur in response to energy surplus. 

We hope nutrition and exercise professionals will use the results of our study to help their clients with healthy weight gain and may recommend the whole food approach. Because we found a wide range of weight gain among our participants (-0.9 to 4.4 kg), we also recommend frequently analyzing client progress to ensure the right energy surplus for optimal healthy weight gain. 

This study was funded by a grant from the Peanut Institute Foundation. 

The views and information presented are those of the author and do not represent the official position of the U.S. Army Medical Center of Excellence, the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, or the Department of the Army, Department of Defense, or U.S. Government. 

Allison Sanchez, Ph.D., recently earned her doctorate in clinical physiology and metabolism from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Her dissertation work focused on evaluating nutrition recommendations and identifying predictors to promote healthy weight gain through whole foods in athletic individuals. She has been a registered dietitian in the United States Army since 2011 and a board-certified specialist in sports dietetics since 2014. She is a member of the American College of Sports Medicine®.