Mary Woolley's Weekly Letter: The research environment
By Mary Woolley on May 9, 2019
Dear Research Advocate, Yesterday, the House Appropriations Committee passed the Fiscal Year 2020 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies funding bill. While there is great news in the bill, it must be considered in the grim context of the across the board cuts that will happen if Congress does not act to raise the budget caps. Our statement addresses both the good and bad news. The bill, which Congressional leadership is expected to bring to the House floor in June, includes more than $8.25 billion for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over $41 billion for the National Institutes of Health, and $358 million for the Agency for Healthcare Research and...
A Weekly Advocacy Message from Research!America: Talk is cheap; bipartisanship is priceless
By researchamerica on April 3, 2014
Dear Research Advocate: The doubling of the National Institutes of Health budget between FY99 and FY03 is an example of Congress at its most productive '€¦ and it hinged on bipartisanship. A small group of Republicans and Democrats recognized the power of medical progress, and they worked together to increase the budget baseline for NIH by nearly $11.5 billion. Without that doubling, and with the stagnation of virtually all non-defense discretionary funding that followed on its heels, which groundbreaking medical discoveries would still lie dormant? Which of those we hold dear would not be alive today? Research!America Chair and former Congressman John Porter, who chaired the House Labor-...
Research!America Honors Congressmen Frank Wolf and Chaka Fattah for Advancing Medical Innovation to Save Lives and Strengthen the Economy
By researchamerica on February 12, 2014
Reps. Wolf and Fattah to Receive the Edwin C. Whitehead Award for Medical Research Advocacy at Research!America'€™s Advocacy Awards Dinner on March 12 ALEXANDRIA, Va. - February 12, 2014 -Reps. Frank Wolf (R-VA) and Chaka Fattah (D-PA) will receive the Edwin C. Whitehead Award for Medical Research Advocacy for their leadership and unwavering commitment to supporting policies that promote federal and private sector medical research and innovation. Reps. Wolf and Fattah have spearheaded efforts to create a legislative and regulatory climate conducive to medical innovation. "Representatives Wolf and Fattah are exceptional champions for research," said Research!America Chair John Edward Porter...
A Weekly Advocacy Message from Mary Woolley: Moving from the Envy of the World to the Puzzle of the World
By rablogs on November 14, 2013
Dear Research Advocate: NIH Director Francis Collins was recently interviewed for a Wall Street Journal article that would reinvigorate even the weariest research advocate. Dr. Collins captured the legacy and unprecedented potential of research for health, as well as the counterintuitive neglect of it, in a truly compelling manner. Dr. Collins made similarly captivating comments yesterday at the Washington Ideas Forum: "We'€™re going from the envy of the world," he said, "to the puzzle of the world. Other nations are mystified that we have stopped following our own playbook '€" the one they are using now to drive their economy and improve health and quality of life for their own populations...
Highlights of the 2013 National Health Research Forum
By researchamerica on September 18, 2013
Research!America'€™s National Health Research Forum '€" held September 12 at the Newseum'€™s Knight Conference Center in Washington, DC '€" examined the current and future state of research to improve health. This year'€™s theme was '€œStraight Talk about the Future of Medical and Health Research.'€ Three expert panels delved into different aspects of the research ecosystem. Research!America'€™s president and CEO, Mary Woolley, and chair, The Honorable John Edward Porter, opened the program. Porter introduced Bart Peterson, JD, senior vice president of corporate affairs and communications at Lilly who delivered a brief keynote speech. '€œWe developed an innovation ecosystem, and that...
A Weekly Advocacy Message from Mary Woolley: Is a do-nothing Congress a public health threat?
By researchamerica on August 22, 2013
Dear Research Advocate: Last week, I wrote about the international trade deficit our country faces. This week, I'€™d like to focus on the budget deficit. From 2003 to 2011, Medicare and Medicaid spending grew 74% while our economy only grew 35%. With that kind of differential, no government can balance its budget. We need research to address disabling and costly illnesses, but that won't be enough in and of itself to bridge the gap. We also need tax and entitlement reform that preserves needed services, squeezes out waste and inefficiency (by the way, that'€™s why we must also fight to protect health economics research, health services research and other research that optimizes health care...
Cuts in research funding undermine medical innovation
By rablogs on July 29, 2013
Op-ed by The Honorable John Edward Porter, Research!America Chair and former U.S. Representative (1980 '€" 2001) published in McClatchy-Tribune newspapers , including the Great Falls Tribune , News & Observer , Times Herald Record and Billings Gazette . The health of Americans and future generations is at risk. This seems incredulous given our track record in medical discoveries that improved health care and saved lives over the years. But our nation's research ecosystem is now in a precarious state as a result of federal policies and proposals that continue to undermine medical innovation. Sequestration, the across-the-board spending cuts for federal agencies, is a self-inflicted wound...
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You can change the image of things to come. But you can't do it sitting on your hands … The science community should reach out to Congress and build bridges.
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