2020 Advocacy Awards
Unfortunately, due to the limitations caused by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Research!America Advocacy Awards dinner scheduled for March 10, 2020, was canceled. Research!America will be proud to honor most of the 2020 honorees in April of 2021. However, at the National Health Research Forum, held virtually in September 2020, there was a special virtual reception to honor the 2020 recipients of the Edwin C. Whitehead Award for Medical Research Advocacy.
The 2020 honorees were recognized at the 2021 Advocacy Awards on May 13, 2021.
Senator Mike B. Enzi (R-WY) and Congresswoman Anna G. Eshoo (D-CA-18) will receive the Edwin C. Whitehead Award for Medical Research Advocacy for the pivotal roles they have played in accelerating life-saving medical progress.
Throughout his 22-year tenure on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, Senator Enzi’s leadership and vision has been instrumental in shaping an efficient and effective discovery, development, and delivery ecosystem in the U.S. that drives desperately needed solutions for patients. His stewardship has strengthened key research and public health agencies including NIH, FDA, CDC, and AHRQ, and shepherded mechanisms to ensure basic research translates into a wide diversity of new treatments and technologies. Among his numerous contributions, Senator Enzi helped ensure our nation responded aggressively to the AIDS crisis and has played a lead role in addressing longstanding gaps in autism research and support.
Congresswoman Eshoo chairs the Health Subcommittee of the influential House Energy and Commerce Committee. She is an outspoken advocate for bolstering funding for the National Institutes of Health and has played a central role in advancing numerous policy changes to responsibly speed medical advances to patients. Rep. Eshoo has written landmark bipartisan legislation to promote the development of new lifesaving cures in biologic drugs; protect patients’ genetic information from being used to discriminate against them; modernize how the FDA regulates and approves medical devices; and promote the development of medicines specifically for children.
“Senator Enzi and Congresswoman Eshoo have each contributed in extraordinary ways to strengthening our nation’s biomedical R&D pipeline and public health capacity,” said Research!America Chair, the Honorable Michael N. Castle. “Under their leadership, public and private sector-fueled research is building knowledge and saving lives at an unprecedented pace to the profound benefit of us all.”