A Warm Welcome
During our annual meeting today Research!America elected six new board members, all highly accomplished leaders who bring a wealth of expertise and leadership skills to the current board and the Research!America alliance. (See our press release):
- Julie Gerberding, MD, MPH, President and CEO of the Foundation for the NIH; Director of the CDC (2002-2009)
- Celine Gounder, MD, SCM, Medical Contributor CBS News; Senior Fellow and Editor-at-Large for Public Health, KFF
- Laura Magaña, PhD, President and CEO, Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health
- Claire Pomeroy, MD, President, Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation
- John Reed, MD, PhD, Executive Vice President, Pharmaceuticals, R&D, Johnson & Johnson
- Ravi Thadhani, MD, MPH, Executive Vice President for Health Affairs, Emory University; Executive Director, Woodruff Health Sciences Center
We saluted our outgoing board members for their terrific service and unwavering advocacy: The Honorable Charlie Dent, Dario Gil, PhD, and Guillermo “Willy” Prado, PhD.
A Special Opportunity: Also at our annual meeting, Research!America alliance members heard an insightful presentation from NIH Director Dr. Monica Bertagnolli and listened to a compelling conversation between U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and Dr. Mary Hendrix, President of Shepherd University and a Research!America Board Member. A family at the forefront of advocacy for the Friedreich’s Ataxia Research Alliance shared a moving presentation. Our members-only annual gathering is an opportunity to conduct organizational business and to hear the state of play in research in the U.S. from key leaders. It’s also when we release our Annual Report and Poll Data Summary. A recording of this event will be sent to members. If your organization is not a member of the Research!America Alliance, please contact Joel Nepomuceno.
On The Hill: Both chambers were in session this week with a full docket of significant legislative business. New House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-OK) jumped into his role and is getting straight to business on FY25 bills. The Committee hopes to complete subcommittee consideration (“Mark-ups”) of all 12 House appropriations bills by the end of May.
One change this year: The House “Labor-HHS” Appropriations Subcommittee is very unlikely to hold a public witness hearing this year, which would preclude patient advocates and other stakeholders from addressing the subcommittee directly on the agencies and programs under its jurisdiction (e.g., NIH, BARDA, CDC, and AHRQ). The Subcommittee is accepting written testimony, though. Use our “Preparing Written Testimony 101” primer to make the case for research funding! The deadline for submitting testimony is Friday, May 3.
Update: Proposed Changes to Medicare Data Access: Advocacy works! On Monday, after reviewing feedback in response to a new data access policy proposal that would significantly increase the cost to researchers of accessing Medicare data, CMS decided to delay implementation until 2025. Note, the CMS request for information is still open for feedback. See our comments and consider submitting your own by the May 15 deadline. Learn more and view submission instructions.
Defending Science and Scientists: A subcommittee of the House Oversight Committee held a hearing this week that was under the radar, but noteworthy. The hearing, “Academic Malpractice: Examining the Relationship Between Scientific Journals, the Government, and Peer Review,” was organized to focus on whether government scientists influenced the editors of scientific journals around the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. Holden Thorp, editor-in-chief of the Science family of journals, was the sole witness. While the nature of this hearing was controversial, kudos to Thorp for successfully elucidating the value of peer review and high journalistic standards.
As he stated in his written testimony: “Of course, scientists are not and never will be perfect. We are human. But the scientific method enables us to reach beyond our individual limitations by requiring evidence and constant self-correction. It helped us end the pandemic, and it contributes to a strong and prosperous America.”
Addressing the Gender Gap in Research: Women continue to be understudied and underrepresented in health research despite meaningful reforms over the past three decades. Join us on April 25 at noon ET for an alliance discussion featuring Katie Schubert, President and CEO of the Society for Women’s Health Research, and Lori Frank, President of Women’s Health Access Matters. Katie and Lori will discuss recent actions by the Biden Administration and Congress to confront these persistent challenges.
Connecting with Early Career Scientists: Last weekend, Savannah Sims, Victoria Schneider, and Sarah Bobardt of Research!America’s policy team participated in the National Science Policy Symposium, organized by a longstanding partner, the National Science Policy Network. For an overview of the opportunities for early career scientists that we shared at the Symposium, please visit this link.
Medicare Drug Price Negotiations: If you are a Research!America alliance member, join us on April 30 at noon ET for an off-the-record discussion with Nick Bath and Adam Finkelstein from Manatt, Phelps & Phillips. We’ve asked Nick and Adam to provide an update on the implementation of the Medicare drug price negotiation provisions of the IRA. Regardless of one’s views on these highly charged provisions, there is no doubt that implementation decisions being made now will have a huge impact on biomedical R&D investment going forward. If you represent an alliance member organization, email Jacqueline Lagoy for the registration link.