National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a sub-agency within the Department of Health and Human Services, administers federal grants for disease surveillance, prevention, and response activities across state and local health agencies, research institutions, and hospitals nationwide. CDC grant funding supports infectious disease control, chronic disease prevention, environmental health, occupational safety, and emergency preparedness.

CDC has obligated $36.63 billion in federal grant dollars across 485 awards since 2005, working with 257 distinct grant recipients. Recent award volume is volatile: 95 awards in 2021, 43 in 2022, 21 in 2023, 69 in 2024, and 1 award year-to-date in 2025. The most recent grant award closed in September 2025. Grant funding is predominantly structured as Cooperative Agreements (448 awards, 92% of the portfolio), with Project Grants comprising the remaining 8 percent.

Grant recipient concentration is highly fragmented. Among the top five recipients by award count over the last five years, Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment, The General Hospital Corporation, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Minnesota Department of Health, and State of Georgia Department of Public Health collectively account for only 8 percent of recent awards. By federal dollars obligated, the distribution is even more dispersed—the top five recipients by dollar value (Massachusetts Department of Public Health at $87.2 million, Health Research, Inc. at $40.9 million, Regents of The University of Michigan at $37.6 million, Minnesota Department of Health at $27.6 million, and Oregon Health Authority-Public Health at $24.3 million) hold just 1 percent of total federal dollars across the portfolio. State health departments dominate by award count, while a mix of state agencies and research institutions lead by individual award dollar size.

The dramatic year-to-year variation in award count—dropping from 95 awards in 2021 to 21 in 2023 before recovering to 69 in 2024—signals funding cycles or shifting programmatic priorities. The single award recorded year-to-date in 2025 suggests that recent CDC grant-making activity may be concentrated in specific fiscal periods rather than evenly distributed throughout the year.