Society Joins Annual Rally for Medical Research Day

By Society Staff

There’s power in numbers. This week we joined forces on Capitol Hill with nearly 300 scientists, health care professionals, and patient advocates from around the country to advocate for increased medical research funding.

Our participation in the 10th Annual Rally for Medical Research Day on Sept. 14 emphasized a key message: Congress should provide robust and predictable annual funding increases for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). We urged lawmakers to allocate $50 billion to NIH in fiscal year (FY) 2023, a 7.9% increase from the FY 2022 funding level. 

Steady increases in NIH funding are essential to maintaining the momentum of previous research investments and supporting new opportunities and breakthrough treatments.

“It is critical that Congress hear about the importance of adequately funding the NIH, as well as the value of endocrine research,” says Mila Becker, the Society’s chief policy officer. “Many years of strong advocacy has resulted in NIH funding being a bipartisan issue, but Congress still needs to hear from us. We’re getting down to the wire for decisions about funding for fiscal year (FY) 2023, which starts October 1.” 

This year marks the first in-person Rally Hill Day since 2019. It’s also one of the first large in-person Hill Days to take place since the Capitol complex reopened. The Society is proud to note we were among the last organizations to advocate for increased funding in March 2020, before the Capitol closed due to the pandemic. And now we’re one of the first back. 

While virtual advocacy has its pluses, there’s nothing like being in person to get your points across. 

At this year’s Rally, our members met with their congressional delegations to emphasize the importance and impact of investing in NIH research and share the following messages:  

• NIH funding contributed to every one of the 356 new drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration between 2010 and 2019, including 126 first-in-class products to treat a wide range of diseases.
• Investment in medical research can reduce future costs of care. Most health care dollars are spent on treating chronic diseases. To better prevent and manage these costly diseases, medical research must be a strong national priority.
• Funding provided to NIH fuels the U.S. economy and creates jobs in communities across the country. In FY 2021, research funded by NIH supported nearly 552,500 jobs and more than $94 billion in economic activity across the U.S.

The impact of the Rally goes well beyond the halls of Congress. Advocates from across the country participated in the event on the same day by encouraging their communities to contact members of Congress via phone, email, and social media, again with the message urging support for a $4.1 billion increase for NIH in FY 2023. 

We also encourage Society members to join the effort. You can help by participating in our online advocacy campaign. Here you will find tools and resources necessary to effectively reach out to your lawmaker with our important message. It only takes a few minutes to participate. 

Let’s make a difference together and raise funding for research at the NIH!