BIRD Health Act of 2025

The United States-Israel Bilateral Innovation for Research and Development in Health Act of 2025 (the BIRD Health Act) would create a formal, US-Israel bilateral program to accelerate health-related research, development, and deployment. The program would be run through the Binational Industrial Research and Development Foundation (BIRD Foundation) with joint oversight by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Israeli Ministry of Health, and in coordination with the Secretary of Commerce. Its goal is to expand collaboration on a wide range of health technologies—such as medical devices, diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, genomics, telemedicine, digital health, and AI for health—while also strengthening data sharing, manufacturing capabilities, and health system resilience. The act authorizes funding of $10 million per year from 2026 through 2032 and lays out a framework for project selection, governance, reporting, and evaluation. It follows the successful model of prior US-Israel collaborations administered by the BIRD Foundation in areas like energy, cyber, and homeland security, and references existing cooperation agreements and past congressional funding for joint health initiatives.