Dear Research Advocate: Happy Thanksgiving Week! I’m writing early to give us all a holiday. Last Thursday and Friday, l capped off a week of visiting our members at the McKnight Brain Institute (MBI) and the Health Science Center at the University of Florida. Research!America Chair Emeritus, and former member of Congress, the Honorable John Edward Porter, joined me at a Town Hall session during which students, postdocs, faculty, and administrators asked about the best ways to make the case for research with the current and new Congress. At MBI we heard patient advocate extraordinaire Jennifer French, Neurotech Network Executive Director, forcefully articulate the importance of a needed “...

This is the fourth installment in a blog series about awareness of antibacterial resistance in recognition of World Antibiotic Awareness Week, November 12-18, 2018. Check back for more blog posts soon! Which of our interventions, devices, and cures could save lives from antimicrobial resistance (AMR)? What roadblocks are keeping us from making the next groundbreaking discovery to combat AMR? What investments would stop its spread? Over the next year, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), along with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is asking leaders around the world to commit to action in one of these areas and join The AMR Challenge . We need your help...

Dear Research Advocate: At our post-election briefing this morning at AAAS in Washington, DC, the discussion focused on opportunities for advocacy given the composition and characteristics of the new Congress, and the importance of building new champions from among the nearly 100 new members of Congress. Of note — at last count, there are seven science-trained new members, a very welcome development! There is no doubt that a divided Congress can cause gridlock, but inaction is not a foregone conclusion, as was emphasized by our Chair, the Hon. Michael N. Castle. There are important, science-relevant issues, such as infrastructure, STEM education, and the opioid crisis, that both parties...

This is the third installment in a blog series about awareness of antibacterial resistance that will lead to World Antibiotic Awareness Week, November 12-18, 2018. Check back for more blog posts throughout the coming weeks! In recent news reports, antibiotic-resistant bacteria and resulting serious infections have been linked to hamburger meat, sink traps , and even puppies . The question of whether a patient in the hospital or a person in the community will encounter these dangerous pathogens appears to be moving instead towards how to identify, prevent, and contain once an infection is contracted. The foundation of infection prevention and control is rooted in evidence-based guidelines...