Changes to NIH funding present significant challenges to the scientific and medical research landscape, prompting critical questions about how the research community can adapt and maintain momentum. Non-NIH funders, such as research-oriented foundations, have an opportunity to play increasingly important roles in this environment, and there are valuable lessons to be learned from instances where private funding has successfully advanced medical research. Beyond the immediate concerns facing individual grant seekers, the panel will address the less obvious but equally significant challenges to scientific advancement that result from funding reductions, affecting long-term research continuity, the cultivation of emerging scientific talent, innovations in research approaches, and more.