DeOndra Dixon INCLUDE Project Act of 2025

The DeOndra Dixon INCLUDE Project Act of 2025 would authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services, through the NIH, to establish and run a comprehensive program of research, training, and investigation focused on Down syndrome and co-occurring conditions across the lifespan. Named the INCLUDE Project (Investigation of Co-occurring conditions across the Lifespan to Understand Down syndrome), the program would fund basic science on chromosome 21, create and maintain a large population of individuals with Down syndrome for study, expand inclusive clinical trials (including new biomedical and pharmacological interventions and therapies to improve daily living), and investigate the biological mechanisms and biomarkers related to Down syndrome and its co-occurring conditions (such as Alzheimer’s disease and autoimmune disorders). The act emphasizes coordination across NIH to avoid duplicative research, provides for technical assistance to grantees, and requires biennial congressional reports detailing the research carried out and any real-world evidence emerging from it.