Dear Research Advocate: The government is now in its sixth day of a partial shutdown that has left agencies including the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and National Science Foundation (NSF) without the necessary resources to conduct their critical, multi-faceted work. Negotiations between the Congress and the White House reportedly remain at a stalemate. Last year, when the House and Senate voted to end a weeklong shutdown, Senate Majority Leader McConnell said he hoped everyone could remember that "brinksmanship and hostage-taking do not work. They make bipartisan progress harder – not easier – to achieve." Let’s face it: no one is heeding that lesson now. The path that will truly...

Dear Research Advocate: Today, our nation and world lost a research leader whose vision, commitment and compassion have catalyzed progress against a host of insidious health threats. Dr. Stephen Katz , the director of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, died suddenly and unexpectedly this morning. We have been blessed by you and your service, and will miss you, Steve. The Senate passed a continuing resolution (CR) last night to flat-fund seven fiscal year 2019 appropriations bills at 2018 levels until February 8, 2019. (Recall that the federal fiscal year began on October 1, so this is not a minor delay.) It was fully expected that the House would pass...

The December 2018 Research Advocate is now online . Highlights from this month include: The announcement of Siddhartha Mukherjee, MD, DPhil, as the recipient of the Isadore Rosenfeld Award for Impact on Public Opinion . Research!America's new survey revealing public opinion about antibiotic resistance. Jennifer Luray has joined Research!America as Senior Advisor. Recaps of the Post-Election Briefing and Public Health Thank You Day. Member Spotlight: George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences . You can also download the entire newsletter as a PDF .

Antibiotic resistance (also known as anti-microbial resistance, or AMR) is a growing public health threat. In a recent national opinion survey , over 80% of Americans said they are concerned that antibiotic resistance will make infections more difficult or impossible to treat, and could even become deadly. However, when it comes to the details, survey data indicated that few are aware of what can be done to slow the progression of antibiotic resistance. Therefore, in honor of Antibiotics Awareness Week, Research!America hosted a guest blog series to highlight the work of some amazing initiatives that are leading the crusade against anti-microbial resistance. To provide the academic...