July 1, 2010

ATS Leadership Meets with NIH Institute and Agency Directors

This week, the ATS leadership of president Dean Schraufnagel, MD, president-elect Nicholas Hill, MD, past-president J. Randall Curtis, MD, vice-president, Monica Kraft, MD, and secretary-treasurer Patricia Finn, MD, met with administrators, directors and senior staff of 10 NIH institutes and federal agencies including the National Institute of Child Health and Development (NICHD), Fogarty International Center (FIC), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Veterans Affairs (VA) Research Program, Agency for Health Research and Quality (AHRQ), National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), National Institute for Nursing Research (NINR), National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID), and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) to press for increased research for lung disease, critical illness and sleep disorders. For the first time, the ATS leadership met personally with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson to discuss collaboration on initiatives studying the health effects of climate change and how the ATS can support the agency as it issues stricter clean air standards.

The series of annual meetings serves to build the ATS's relationships with these key institutes and agencies in addition to providing a direct forum for the ATS to push for the expansion of lung disease, critical illness and sleep research. This is especially true for institutes such as the NICHD, where the ATS leadership met with Deputy Director Yvonne Maddox, PhD, to discuss collaborations on pediatric asthma and sleep apnea in children, particularly in children with Downs Syndrome. Asthma was also a focus of the discussion in the meeting with senior staff from the NIAID, where the ATS also pressed for more study of nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) disease.

The ATS has been leading efforts to support increased funding for the VA research program, and VA Chief Research and Development Officer Joel Kupersmith, MD, acknowledged this support as he discussed the VA's plans to expand study of lung disease. Increased study of therapies for critical illness was a key topic of discussion in all of the meetings, and particularly with NHLBI Acting Director Susan Shurin, MD. The ATS leadership also had an engaging discussion with Dr. Shurin on the importance of career development support for young investigators to mid-career researchers.

TUBERCULOSIS

House Subcommittee Allocates 6.6% Funding Increase for USAID TB Program

The week, the House State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Lowey (D-NY), approved the 2011 spending bill for the State department, US Agency for International Development (USAID) and other foreign assistance programs. The bill, which was passed by a unanimous voice vote, includes a 6.6% increase for USAID's tuberculosis program, boosting the FY2010 funding level of $225 million to $240 million. The $15 million increase is also $10 million more than the President's proposed budget for the program.

The next step for the 2011 State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations bill is a full Appropriations Committee vote and then companion Senate subcommittee and committee action, but it is not known when these actions will occur. It is expected that the 2011 appropriations process will be delayed due to the November election.

The Washington Letter is written by the American Thoracic Society government relations office and emailed to all ATS members living in the United States. The letter keeps clinicians, scientists, and patients abreast of legislative, judicial, and regulatory issues in pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine. Each week's edition is archived on the ATS Web site, www.thoracic.org. If you have any questions or one more information about becoming involved in advocacy, please contact the ATS Washington office at 202-296-9770.