weekly letter

Dear Research Advocate, Appreciation : As we approach Thanksgiving, please consider two opportunities to recognize public health heroes. #PHTYD : Taking a moment to participate in Public Health Thank You Day is a quick way to express thanks to members of the public health workforce. Always held on the Monday before Thanksgiving, PHTYD carries special meaning this year as the public health community faces down a dramatic escalation in the pandemic. Visit and share the PHTYD link for tools you can use to make Monday a true day of appreciation for public health heroes. Call for Nominations : Speaking of heroes, nominations are open for four Excellence in Achievement in Public Health awards, a...

Dear Research Advocate, The election is yet another way 2020 is testing us like no other year. Let’s pull through by pulling together and putting science to work as never before. The key question for us all, advocates of faster scientific, medical, and public health progress: What can we do today to advance that progress? Gather evidence and speak out . If R&D stakeholders want the next emergency package to include supplemental funding for stalled or reprogrammed research, we need to act now. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has said he would like to move a supplemental by the end of the year. Not only is funding needed for federal grants, but COVID has decimated grant...

Dear Research Advocate, Deal or No Deal? : House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin continue to talk in hopes of clinching a bipartisan agreement on an emergency supplemental. Earlier this week, Research!America sent a letter urging them not to abandon their efforts and to include, in any agreement reached, at least $26 billion to supplement pandemic-eroded research funding. We also tweeted them (you can too!). You can also email your Members of Congress, urging them to voice support for this funding. Advocacy can’t stop now! Immigration Actions Impacting R&D : The Trump Administration, through the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has issued proposed...

Dear Research Advocate, This week we congratulate the winners of the Nobel prizes, celebrating achievements and solving problems that benefit us all. In our statement , we underscore the importance of federal taxpayer funding for basic research, making the extraordinary work of the Laureates possible. I’ve long admired the way the Nobel Foundation captures the essence of the Laureates’ contributions, exemplifying as they do the very best in persuasive writing . (For those like me who are aficionados of the power of the written word, this linked blog post provides keen insights on the rhetorical reasons why the Nobel Foundation is – and all of us can become – a model of writing that wins...