In April, ASCO Immediate Past President Clifford A. Hudis, MD, FACP, urged Congress to recognize the need for further investment in medical research to protect this valuable infrastructure in testimony submitted to the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations. The testimony provided examples of how federal funding for medical research, specifically through the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute, are driving medical innovation and resulting in new therapies for people with cancer.
In the testimony, Dr. Hudis stated, “Domestically, declining federal funding for clinical trials, coupled with the rising costs of increasingly complex studies, will severely harm the nation’s clinical research enterprise by limiting opportunities for innovation and demoralizing young clinical investigators. As opportunities to develop and lead trials diminish and institutional pressures to generate research funding and clinical revenue continue to grow, young investigators may leave the field of research, or choose to pursue research opportunities in other countries. Not only does this threaten our progress against cancer, but it also diminishes the overall scientific workforce in America.”
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