Search Results: arpa
ARPA-H Announces New Program ARPANET-H
The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a new nationwide health network, ARPANET-H. Within ARPANET-H, three research hubs have been developed, including the Customer Experience hub, the Investor Catalyst hub, and the Stakeholder and Operations hub. Notably, the Customer Service hub priorities include developing accessible health solutions and diversifying health solutions. The Investor Catalyst hub priorities include transforming innovative ideas into tangible solutions and the Stakeholder and Operations hub will focus on agency and stakeholder partnerships. Stay tuned to COSSA’s continued coverage of ARPA-H.
ARPA-H Announces Senior Health Economist Position
The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) announced they are hiring a new Senior Health Economist within its executive leadership team. The role of the Senior Health Economist will inform the agency’s program portfolio priority setting, resource allocation, and policy development through in-depth health economic modeling and analysis. The ideal candidate will exhibit strong technical expertise in Health Economics and Outcomes Research (HEOR) and is expected to build economic and population-based models using relevant software and stay aware of external best practices for the development and utilization of these models. The Senior Health Economist will use strategic decision-making frameworks to evaluate…
Congress Tacks ARPA-H Authorization onto FY 2023 Spending Deal
The finalization of appropriations for fiscal year (FY) 2023 received plenty of attention by the research community for its investments in federal research agencies. However, another important provision was the authorization of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H). Touted as a major priority for the Biden Administration, ARPA-H is a “high-risk, high-reward” advanced biomedical research agency established in 2022 after receiving initial funding in the FY 2022 appropriations bill. Despite receiving funds, it had not yet been authorized through legislation until it was attached to the FY 2023 appropriations omnibus last month (see COSSA’s analysis). The long-awaited authorization…
Renee Wegrzyn to be Named Inaugural Director of ARPA-H
On September 12, the Biden Administration released an announcement of the intent to appoint Renee Wegrzyn, Ph.D. as the inaugural director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H). The announcement for permanent leadership at the nascent agency has been anticipated since ARPA-H’s creation earlier this spring. Anthropologist Adam Russell has been leading the agency in the interim as Acting Deputy Director since May 2022 (see previous COSSA coverage). Dr. Wegrzyn comes to ARPA-H with a wealth of experience in biotechnology, including synthetic biology, gene editing, and biosecurity. She previously served in the private sector as vice president of…
President Biden Expected to Nominate Former DARPA Director, Physicist to OSTP Post
On June 21, President Biden is expected to nominate Dr. Arati Prabhakar as the next Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and Presidential Science Advisor. As previously reported, Dr. Alondra Nelson was named in February as the interim director of OSTP following the resignation of Eric Lander who stepped down after less than a year in the position amid allegations of workplace bullying. Dr. Francis Collins, former Director of the National Institutes of Health, has been serving as the interim science advisor to the President. Upon Prabahaker’s confirmation, which is required for the OSTP…
Adam H. Russell Named ARPA-H Acting Deputy Director
On May 25, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Xavier Becerra formally announced the establishment of the Advanced Research Project Agency for Health (ARPA-H) within the National Institutes of Health (NIH) along with the appointment of Adam H. Russell, Ph.D. as the Acting Deputy Director of ARPA-H. Russell comes to ARPA-H from the University of Maryland’s Applied Research Laboratory for Intelligence and Security and brings more than a decade of experience as a Program Manager at the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Agency (IARPA) and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Russell also has an extensive…
House Committee Marks Up ARPA-H Authorization Legislation, Advances to House Floor
On May 18, the House Energy and Commerce (E&C) Committee marked up several pieces of legislation including the Advanced Research Project Agency for Health (ARPA-H) Act (H.R. 5585), authorization legislation for the newly established health research agency. During the markup, the bill championed by the E&C Health Subcommittee Chair Anna Eshoo (D-CA) was amended to explicitly state that ARPA-H would be established as an “independent operating division within the Department of Health and Human Services” and directs the Biden Administration to transfer ARPA-H away from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), pushing back on the Administration’s recent move to house…
House Subcommittee Weighs Arguments for an Independent ARPA-H
On February 8, the Subcommittee for Health within the House Committee on Energy and Commerce (E&C) held a hearing on the proposed Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) with a heavy focus of the discussion on the structure of the agency within the federal government. Among other issues, members of the Committee heard testimony on whether a DARPA-like research agency should be housed within the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as proposed by the Biden Administration or established as an independent agency under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Witnesses included Vice Chancellor for Science Policy and…
Cures 2.0 Bill Introduced in the House, Includes RISE Act and ARPA-H Authorization
On November 16, Representatives Diana DeGette (D-CO) and Fred Upton (R-MI) introduced the Cures 2.0 Act, long anticipated legislation aiming to bolster the U.S. biomedical research enterprise. Most notably, the legislation would authorize $6.5 billion for an Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), a long-touted Biden Administration priority. Unlike the previously introduced Advanced Research Project Agency-Health (ARPA-H) Act (H.R. 5585) which authorizes $3 billion for an independent ARPA-H within the Department of Health and Human Services, the Cures 2.0 Act would establish ARPA-H within the National Institutes of Health (NIH) (see previous coverage for more details). In addition to…
ARPA-H Authorization Bill Introduced in the House
On October 15, Representative Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Chairwoman of the Health Subcommittee within the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, introduced the Advanced Research Project Agency-Health (ARPA-H) Act (H.R. 5585), a bill authorizing the agency that has been a key priority in the Biden Administration’s budget for fiscal year (FY) 2022 (see previous coverage). Notably, the bill would not establish ARPA-H within the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as the White House and some appropriators in both chambers have proposed, but rather within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), setting up a potential conflict between appropriators and authorizers…
NIH and OSTP to Hold Stakeholder Listening Sessions on ARPA-H Priorities
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) have announced the dates for a series of virtual listening sessions to receive feedback from scientific societies, patient advocacy groups, industry, and other stakeholders about potential projects and priorities for Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), the proposed new agency to be housed within NIH dedicated to high-risk, high-reward research applied to solve broad societal problems (see previous COSSA coverage for more details). The listening sessions, which will be broken up by topical focus, may include a variety of formats including large,…
Biden Preliminary FY 2022 R&D Proposals Rely on “DARPA” Model
On April 9, the Biden Administration released preliminary, high-level details of its fiscal year (FY) 2022 budget request, referred to as a “skinny budget.” At this stage, details are only available for Cabinet-level departments and a handful of other “major” agencies, with limited details about some agencies within the departments. For example, it includes preliminary details for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), but not for the Census Bureau. Full budget details will be released in the coming months. In the meantime, however, Congress is proceeding with the FY 2022 appropriations process without the Administration’s full proposals. Appropriators in both…
DARPA Announces Next Generation Social Science Program; Abstracts Due March 31
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) of the U.S. Department of Defense has announced a new social science research effort – Next Generation Social Science (NGS2) – which seeks to “begin to assess the research opportunities provided by today’s web-connected world and advanced technologies.” NGS2 is looking to fund research that will enhance three core social science capabilities – predictive modeling and hypothesis generation, innovative experimental methods and platforms, and interpretation and reproducibility of research results. An initial focus of the program will be to “challenge researchers to develop and use new tools and methods to identify causal mechanisms…
Senate Subcommittee Discusses NIH’s FY 2024 Budget
On May 4, The Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, Education (LHHS) Appropriations Subcommittee held a hearing on the fiscal year (FY) 2024 budget for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). NIH Acting Director Dr. Lawrence Tabak, Principal Deputy Director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Dr. Douglas Lowy, Director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Dr. Joshua Gordon, Director of the National Institute on Aging (NIA) Dr. Richard Hodes, and Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Dr. Nora Volkow testified before the committee. In her opening statement, Chairwoman Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) voiced her support…
House LHHS Subcommittee Holds Budget and Oversight Hearing on NIH, CDC, and ASPR
On April 19, the House Labor, Health and Human Services, Education (LHHS) Appropriations Subcommittee held a budget and oversight hearing on the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) fiscal year (FY). Testifying about the Administration’s fiscal year (FY) 2024 budget requests for their respective agencies were Dr. Rochelle Walensky, Director of CDC; the Honorable Dawn O’Connell, Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response of ASPR; and Dr. Lawrence Tabak, Acting Director of NIH. Chairman Robert B. Aderholt (R-AL) expressed concerns over the President’s budget request (see COSSA’s…
ICYMI: President Biden’s State of the Union Address
On February 7, President Biden held the annual State of the Union Address. Biden celebrated his Administration’s success during the previous term and signaled the Administration’s future goals. These goals include advancing gun safety laws, while also recognizing the historical Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, and reforming law enforcement through providing more training for police officers, with an emphasis on equity and violence prevention training, and more resources to programs that handle mental health issues and drug addiction. President Biden also recognized the passage of the CHIPS and Science Act and the creation of the Advanced Projects Research Agency for Health…
Congress to Consider Standing Up Advanced Research Efforts in USDA
On December 6, the Senate Agriculture Committee held a hearing to discuss potential research related provisions that may become part of the upcoming 2023 Farm Bill – the critical agriculture bill re-authorized every five years. Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics (REE) at the Department of Agriculture Dr. Chavonda Jacobs-Young was a witness for the hearing. Notably, Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Ranking Member John Boozman (R-AR), and several bipartisan Members of the Committee were particularly interested in discussing the possibility of appropriating funds for an Agriculture Advanced Research and Development Authority (AgARDA), a high-risk, high-reward research agency within…
ICYMI: Arati Prabhakar Confirmed as OSTP Director
In September, the Senate confirmed President Biden’s nominee for Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), Arati Prabhakar, by a vote of 56-40. Prabhakar, who is a former Director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), had been nominated in June to take charge of the office that has been led in the interim by OSTP Deputy Director for Science and Society Alondra Nelson (see previous COSSA coverage). Prabhakar is also expected to assume the role of the President’s science adviser, which had been carried out by former Director of the National Institutes of…
Congress Holds FY 2023 Budget Hearings for NIH
Over the past few weeks, the House and the Senate held their respective budget hearings for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for fiscal year (FY) 2023, hearings that typically feature the NIH director and several of the directors of NIH’s institutes and centers (ICs). On May 11, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (LHHS) held its hearing led by Full Committee Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Subcommittee Ranking Member Tom Cole (R-OK). Witnesses included Acting Director of NIH Larry Tabak, Director of the National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development…
Newly Created Advanced Research Agency Transferred to NIH
On April 20, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra announced that the newly created Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) would be formally transferred to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). ARPA-H, which has been a frequently touted priority for the Biden Administration, was newly established in March with the passage of the final appropriations bills for fiscal year (FY) 2022. Although initially established as an independent agency, the appropriations bill gave the HHS secretary authority to transfer ARPA-H elsewhere within the Department, including NIH (see COSSA’s analysis of the final FY 2022 Appropriations…