STAT Op-Ed by ASCO President Dr. Daniel F. Hayes Stresses Need for NIH Funding

Mar 22, 2017

On Wednesday, March 22, STAT (a national publication focused on health and medicine) published an op-ed by ASCO President Daniel F. Hayes, MD, FACP, FASCO, on the critical importance of providing robust funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The op-ed responds to the Trump Administration’s “budget blueprint,” which proposes cutting NIH funding by nearly 20%. “This makes no sense for our patients, our citizens, or our scientists,” Dr. Hayes writes in the op-ed. “The federal government’s investments in biomedical research, which directly support the work of American scientists, have delivered longer, fuller lives for people with cancer and other serious diseases, not only in our country but around the world.”

Dr. Hayes underscores that NIH plays a unique role in funding biomedical research, often funding studies that pharmaceutical companies have no incentive to pursue, such as those focused on prevention or screening. Federally funded research also drives other economic activity across the country, “with estimates that it results in double the return on investment…It has made our nation the undisputed leader in biomedical research, creating jobs and economic opportunity across the country,” Dr. Hayes affirms.

The op-ed follows ASCO’s official statement that expressed strong opposition to the proposed NIH cuts and stressed that—after more than a decade of flat funding—our nation’s biomedical research infrastructure must catch up with sustained increases in future years to meet the possibility of today’s science. ASCO looks forward to continue working with Congress and the Administration to ensure robust federal support for finding new treatments and cures for individuals with cancer.

Visit the ACT Network to urge your representatives in Congress to oppose budget cuts to the NIH and support increased federal research funding to fuel advances in cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.

Read the full op-ed.

Originally published on ASCO in Action.


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