2022 Accomplishments
The great strength of Research!America is our 300+ member organizations and you – the individuals who are part of those organizations. Together, we made progress towards a future in which deadly and debilitating threats are met with readiness, resolve, and a robust research enterprise able to minimize disruption to the lives and well-being of the American people and populations across the globe.
You helped bring about change in 2022, including:
- Across-the-board funding increases for federal research agencies, including a $2.5 billion increase for the National Institutes of Health (see chart for additional agencies).
- Reauthorization of “user fees,” enabling the FDA to approve critical new drugs and devices for patients, and of small business research grants to build out U.S. R&D capacity.
- Passage of the historic CHIPS and Science Act and key provisions of the PREVENT Pandemics Act.
How We Achieved Impact
Celebration, Inspiration, Engagement, Insights
Advocacy Awards
Our 2022 Advocacy Awards celebrated 14 honorees for contributions to medical and public health research and for leadership in advocacy. including leaders such as:
- U.S. Reps. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Kay Granger (R-TX)
- Presidential Science Advisor and former-NIH Director Francis Collins, MD, PhD
- Inaugural Director of the NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health Vivian Pinn, MD
Keeping a Pulse on Public Opinion
Surveys
Our America Speaks!: Poll Data Summary, Volume 22, released in April, serves as a resource for elected officials, outreach, and advocacy. We continued to assess public sentiment about science and research through three surveys this year:
- Our annual survey in January 2022.
- In partnership with Virginia Tech, we surveyed Virginians’ views on the economic impact of biomedical research and opinions on other public health and science issues.
- In partnership with the Dana Foundation, we commissioned a national survey on brain health and brain health research.
Engaging with Experts and Stakeholders
National Health Research Forum
The 2022 National Health Research Forum explored how, together, we can defeat threats that rob us of health, hope, and time.
- An audience of more than 1,100.
- 70 speakers, including 13 high-ranking government officials.
- Notable speakers included U.S. Surgeon General Vice Admiral Vivek H. Murthy; Acting NIH Director Larry Tabak, Assistant Secretary for Health Admiral Rachel L. Levine; and White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Ashish Jha.
Alliance Discussions
To help keep our members informed in real time of research progress and the policy landscape, we held 42 alliance discussions. Exceptional leaders from government, academia, and industry discussed timely topics, such as: pandemic forecasting, FDA approval process, and equity in mental health care.
Post Election Briefing
The week after the midterm elections, we held an in-the-moment panel discussion about the election’s implications for the 118th Congress, and the outlook U.S. research and development. The briefing was moderated by Laura Barrón-López, White House Correspondent for the PBS NewsHour.
Empowering Early Career Scientists
Civic Engagement Microgrant Program
2022 was our 5th year empowering early-career science civic engagement through competitive microgrants. The program is highly competitive with 20 grants funded out of 68 applications from across the country.
This fall, we released a report, “The Research!America Microgrant Program: Exploring its Impact on Early Career Scientists,” which takes a deep dive into the first four years of the initiative.
Early Career Summit
Our 2nd Early Career Summit was a one-day virtual conference for early career scientists to learn more about civic engagement, science communication, science policy, and career development.
Building Trust in Science
In addition to our work with early career scientists, we stepped up our focus on enhancing trust in science in other ways.
- We hosted an invitation-only convening of leaders from academia, non-profits, and philanthropy to discuss how to normalize bidirectional engagement with the public within the culture of science.
- As announced at a recent White House STEMM Summit, we are partnering with the Lasker Foundation to create a detailed landscape analysis of U.S.-based civic science training initiatives.
- We served as the U.S. conveners for a global Economist Impact study to better understand researchers’ own perspectives of the state of science.
Campaigns/Advocacy
Public Health Thank You Day
For 17 years, Research!America has organized an effort to say “thank you” to our public health workforce the Monday before Thanksgiving.
- On November 18, the bipartisan co-chairs of the Congressional Public Health Caucus, co-sponsored House Concurrent Resolution 117 recognizing Public Health Thank You Day.
- We had ~1,000 unique participants and involvement by more than 80 state and local health departments from 33 different states.
Science and Technology Action Committee
We continue to support the Science and Technology Action Committee, an initiative that brings together non-profit, academic, foundation and corporate leaders to make the case for a far bolder approach to bolstering our nation’s R&D capacity.
In 2022, STAC employed high-impact public ad campaigns to successfully advocate for passage of three pivotal bills providing major new funding and policies to support federal research and innovation:
- Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act
- CHIPS and Science Act
- The Inflation Reduction Act
Thank you for your part in realizing these accomplishments. In 2023, we look forward to continuing to advocate together for health-restoring, life-saving research. Patients (and we are all patients) are waiting.