Political Quotes

“I am pleased to rise in support of H.R. 225, the National Pediatric Research Network Act of 2013. The House passed legislation similar to H.R. 225 twice last year. I am hopeful that this time around we will get this bill over the finish line. H.R. 225 represents a bi-partisan effort to allow the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to establish a national pediatric research network dedicated to finding treatments and cures for pediatric diseases and conditions--especially those that are rare. The network would be comprised of up to 20 research consortia or groups of collaborating research institutions such as universities and hospitals. These consortia would be investigator-initiated and would conduct basic, clinical, behavioral, and translational research on pediatric diseases and conditions. NIH funding would be used to create the infrastructure necessary to carry out this research. Within the network, the NIH Director is instructed to ensure that an appropriate number of awards go to those consortia that focus primarily on pediatric rare diseases such as spinal muscular atrophy--or SMA--or birth defects such as Down syndrome. Because these kinds of diseases and conditions are rare and some of the children who suffer from them are very fragile, it makes it difficult for them to travel great distances to participate in clinical trials or other research. This is often the case when--not infrequently--only one institution is conducting such research.…”