Obama Promises $5 Billion for Medical Research
President Obama announced plans to contribute $5 billion in medical research grants that the White House says will cumulatively provide “cutting-edge medical research in every state across America.”
The funds will be provided via Obama’s $787 billion economic stimulus plan, and will largely be used to aid research into cancer, heart disease and autism.
The president made the announcement while visiting the National institutes for Health on September 30. As he puts it, the goal of this stimulus package is “to unlock treatments to diseases that have long plagued humanity, to save and enrich the lives of people all over the world.” Obama also noted that this is the “single largest boost to biomedical research in history.”
One billion dollars of the package will be set aside for cancer research geared towards understanding genetic causes associated with cancer and improving personalized treatment mechanisms. To facilitate this goal, $175 million has already been set aside for grants devoted to the Cancer Genome Atlas.
The Cancer Genome Atlas is an initiative currently underway to extensively map the unique genetic changes that affect cancer. Specifically, the money will be used to collect tens of thousands of cancerous tissue samples and subsequently sequence the entire DNA strands of over 20 forms of cancer.
President Obama stresses that the more than 12,000 grant awards will largely take place at not-for-profit institutions such as the National Institutes for Health. By eliminating profit incentives, the president hopes to spur unbiased research.
Beyond touting the potential for significant advancements in the study of cancer and other medical ailments, Mr. Obama noted that the $5 billion package will serve to “create new jobs, tens of thousands of jobs” for medical workers, researchers, educators and medical equipment manufacturers.
Along with discussing the stimulus package, Obama highlighted the importance of his health care reform package. As he puts it, all the medical advancements achieved through the package “make no difference to the family that is dropped from an insurance policy when a child gets sick.”
