FASEB President describes critical role biomedical research plays in improving public health

Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) President Mark O. Lively, Ph.D., addressed a Capitol Hill audience, including congressional staff, and members of the Coalition for Health Funding (CHF) today to describe the critical role biomedical research plays in improving public health. "At a time when our nation is searching for ways to repair and improve our troubled healthcare system, I am here to reemphasize the importance of providing steady and sustained funding for biomedical research in the United States," Lively stated during the CHF-organized event titled, Public Health 101: Building Capacity to Meet America's Mounting Health Needs.

Lively pointed out the drastic toll chronic disease takes on both health care spending and the lives of patients suffering from these conditions. "But the good news," he added, "is that biomedical research has contributed significantly to improved health and the opportunities for continued progress have never been brighter." Lively acknowledged the challenge presented by the country's current economic situation, but reiterated the value of our investment in the National Institutes of Health (NIH). "Now is not the time to pull back from our historic commitment to investigation and discovery," he said. "Fundamental scientific discoveries funded by NIH form the basis for the ongoing transformation of the practice of medicine." He went on to list a number of NIH's recent accomplishments in advancing medicine and health, including dramatic reductions in deaths from heart disease and cancer and development of a host of new drug therapies.

In concluding, Lively highlighted the future promise of an accelerated pace of discovery. "We are at the beginning of a whole new era of pharmacogenomics that will identify ways to tailor treatments and scientifically match therapies to individuals," he declared, describing how advances in genomic sequencing have already led to the dawn of personalized medicine. "Continued progress towards that goal depends on sustained and predictable funding support for NIH... one critical part of the prescription for improved health. Research means hope."