Health
Advocating for federal investment in medical research
UC Santa Cruz researchers are sharing examples of how federal funding supports breakthrough innovations in health care.
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On Thursday, September 18, UC Santa Cruz researchers joined campus government relations staff in Washington, D.C., for the “Rally for Medical Research” advocacy day on Capitol Hill. Congress is currently debating the budget for the upcoming federal fiscal year, and funding for key federal science agencies is on the line. Elected leaders need to hear from their constituents to ensure continued federal investment in health care breakthroughs.
During the advocacy day, Biomolecular Engineering Professor Karen Miga and Krizia Chambers, a Ph.D. candidate who studies cancer in Professor Olena Vaske’s lab, met with Representative Jimmy Panetta and with key congressional staff members for Senator Alex Padilla, Senator Adam Schiff, and Representative Zoe Lofgren.
Chambers says she went to Capitol Hill to share with lawmakers why National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding is critical for advancing cancer treatments that can save children’s lives. In her research, she focuses on osteosarcoma, a devastating bone cancer affecting children and teens. She’s currently working with the Treehouse Childhood Cancer Initiative to identify genetic targets that could lead to breakthrough treatments. But cuts to NIH funding could halt this type of progress, which can mean the difference between life and death for children battling cancer.
Miga joined the trip to Washington, D.C., to advocate for the value of federal funding for genomics research, which can lead to better health care. Miga studies largely unexplored areas of the human genome associated with a wide range of diseases. She is the co-lead of two major, nationally funded efforts to better understand human DNA and its relationship to health: the Telomere-to-Telomere Consortium and the Human Pangenome Research Consortium, both funded by the NIH’s National Human Genome Research Institute.
Add your voice to support science funding
From cancer research to immunology to fighting chronic diseases, federally funded research at UC Santa Cruz improves lives and livelihoods. That’s why funding for the NIH is so important. Investments in the NIH drive discoveries that lead to new cures, treatments and other medical advances.
Those investments pay off in big ways. Discoveries by UC researchers have led to life-saving treatments for cancer, heart disease and other major illnesses. In California alone, NIH-supported research powers 55,000 jobs and generates $13.8 billion in economic activity. Please join the University of California in urging Congress to prioritize medical research funding.