weekly letter

Dear Research Advocate, This morning, we sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin urging them to reach a deal on an emergency spending package that includes $26B for research relief. As my colleague Ellie Dehoney said in Bloomberg, medical progress has “easily been set back a year.” Unfortunately, as of this writing, the situation looks grave. Speaker Pelosi had delayed a vote on a slimmed-down version of the HEROES Act referred to as “HEROES 2.0” in the hopes of a bipartisan emergency spending agreement. Now an agreement appears unlikely. Stabilizing our nation’s research ecosystem is essential to driving medical progress and innovation...

Dear Research Advocate, If you weren’t able to join us for the National Health Research Forum, you can watch the recordings from the Forum platform . The popular short videos from federal officials, members of Congress, and leaders from across the research and public health ecosystem are posted on our YouTube channel , where all the recordings will soon appear. CNN, C-SPAN, and PBS (among other media outlets) covered several sessions; watch them here now: Secretary of HHS Alex M. Azar, II interviewed by Susan Dentzer Anthony Fauci, MD interviewed by Judy Woodruff ADM Brett Giroir, MD , interviewed by Sanjay Gupta, MD Robert Redfield, MD interviewed by Frank Sesno Vaccine Development: Are we...

Dear Research Advocate, Anticipation is building for the Research!America 2020 Virtual #RAForum: Straight Talk: Securing a Science-Strong Future , featuring federal officials, members of Congress from both sides of the aisle, and other leaders from across the R&D and public health ecosystem to explore the intersection of public and private sector-driven science and pandemic response, recovery, and preparedness. An important late-breaking addition to the Forum program is HHS Secretary Alex M. Azar II, who will be in conversation with journalist and Research!America board member Susan Dentzer. We are also excited to let you know ADM Brett P. Giroir, MD, the Assistant Secretary for Health...

Dear Research Advocate, On Capitol Hill : Senate Republicans have a new legislative proposal for COVID-19 emergency supplemental spending which includes provisions such as extended unemployment benefits and emergency funding for USPS, but no supplemental funding to restore COVID-19-eroded research dollars. Speaking up now is essential if there is to be an emergency spending bill that fully fights back COVID-19’s attack on the nation’s economy and health security. Reach out to your members of Congress to encourage them to include at least $26 billion in funding to restart lifesaving research supported by our health and science agencies. Here are two ways you can act right away: send this...