FASEB Leaders Advocate for Research Funding During Rally for Medical Research

By: Jennifer Zeitzer
Thursday, September 30, 2021

On September 23, FASEB President Patricia L. Morris, MS, PhD, Immediate Past President Louis B. Justement, PhD, and nine Board and Science Policy Committee members participated in virtual congressional visits as part of the 2021 Rally for Medical Research Capitol Hill Day. Representing a dozen member societies and eight states, the FASEB advocates met with aides from their senators’ and representatives’ offices to thank Congress for providing six straight years of robust funding increases for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In addition, they urged their legislators to provide NIH with at least $46.4 billion (a $3.5 billion increase) in fiscal year 2022 and a minimum of $10 billion in emergency supplemental funding to support research impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

FASEB was a bronze sponsor of the 2021 Rally for Medical Research and has been a partner organization throughout the nine-year history of the event. Total participation in the rally included more than 400 participants from 46 states and the District of Columbia who completed meetings with 280 House and Senate offices. The FASEB NIH state funding factsheets were distributed electronically to all participants as well as the congressional offices. Over 650 tweets and retweets generating 4.3 million impressions also helped amplify the message on social media about the need for increased funding for NIH.  

A virtual reception the evening prior to the meetings with members of Congress featured video messages from many leading policymakers, including House Appropriations Committee Chair Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Labor, Health and Human Services (LHHS) Subcommittee ranking member Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK), and Patty Murray (D-WA) and Roy Blunt, leaders of the Senate LHHS Subcommittee that oversees funding for NIH. Other speakers at the reception included NIH Director Francis Collins, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), and Sens. John Boozman (R-AR), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Bob Casey (D-PA), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), and Angus King (I-ME).