Hurricane Harvey has proven to be a major game changer. First and foremost, for the lives and property lost and damaged in Texas and beyond. The outpouring of assistance, from national, state and local government entities to individual acts of kindness and bravery, is nothing short of inspirational. As recovery moves into the next stages, health risks will be more and more apparent. CDC and NIH, local institutions and their national and international support networks are at the ready; indeed they are already at work. We at Research!America are proud to be advocates for the research and researchers who make prevention, early intervention and delivery of treatment life-saving and cost-effective. 

There is another way that Hurricane Harvey is a game changer, and that’s here in Washington, as it influences decision-makers’ agenda this month.Bipartisan support for recovery in Houston is a given; this spirit is likely to extend to challenges that too often have seemed intractable, including those that directly impact the conduct of research in both the public and private sector. That’s a reason for optimism, but not a reason for complacency. September is crunch time for all the stakeholders in research for health to speak up as part of our campaign to #RaisetheCaps to assure that bipartisan congressional support for science has every chance to succeed. Read more on this and other topics elsewhere in this newsletter.