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Sustain Funding for Hiv/Aids Research at the National Institutes of Health

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Sustain Funding for Hiv/Aids Research at the National Institutes of Health OPEN LETTER TO HOUSE AND SENATE APPROPRIATORS FROM HIV/AIDS RESEARCHERS: SUSTAIN FUNDING FOR HIV/AIDS RESEARCH AT THE NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH June 15, 2015 Dear Members of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees: The undersigned nearly 700 clinicians, researchers and other medical professionals working on the front lines of HIV/AIDS research across our nation are writing to express our strong support for sustained robust funding of HIV/AIDS research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Many of us on the front lines of the HIV epidemic across the nation and globally, recall all too vividly the dark days when HIV infection was a death sentence – and we had little to offer our patients but palliative care. Since then, NIH-funded HIV/AIDS research has supported extraordinary successes in innovative basic science for better drug therapies, behavioral and biomedical prevention interventions that have saved and improved the lives of millions. Federal support for HIV/AIDS research has also led to new treatments and ways of approaching other diseases, including cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, hepatitis, osteoporosis and a wide range of autoimmune disorders. Despite tremendous progress, many daunting challenges remain in the quest for improved prevention and treatment therapies, a scalable vaccine, and ultimately a cure. We support an increased overall level of funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to enhance and accelerate investments in therapies and cures for all of the many diseases that afflict Americans such as Alzheimer’s, heart disease, cancer, diabetes and infectious diseases including HIV/AIDS. However, we caution against allocating research dollars simply on the basis of disease burden in the US. Research investment to contain and control the spread of deadly infectious diseases must be a priority to advance public health and protect global security. There continue to be 50,000 new HIV infections in the United States every year and the global toll is enormous—more than 33 million people infected and 2 million new infections annually. Our investments to date have saved the lives of millions and prevented countless new infections but continued support is essential to protect the investment to date and to control and ultimately end the HIV epidemic. Now is the time to prioritize, not curtail HIV/AIDS research. Research advances to develop a preventive vaccine and a cure for HIV infection hold the potential to end the most devastating epidemic in human history. Please support an overall higher level of funding for the NIH and oppose any legislative or report language that would re-direct or otherwise diminish funding for HIV/AIDS research at this pivotal time of immense hope and scientific promise towards ending HIV/AIDS in our lifetime. Thank you for considering these views. Should you wish to contact us we can be reached through HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA) Policy Officer, Kimberly Miller, at [email protected]. *Sincerely, Barbara Hanna, Health Services Center, AL Dr. Christina Ochsenbauer, University of Alabama at Birmingham, AL James Raper, University of Alabama at Birmingham, AL Michael Saag, University of Alabama at Birmingham, AL Janet Turan, University of Alabama at Birmingham, AL Samantha Whitfield, University of Alabama at Birmingham, AL Amanda Willig, University of Alabama at Birmingham, AL Laura Chasko, Southwest Center for HIV/AIDS, AZ Mohamed Abdel Mohsen, University of California San Francisco, CA Support HIV Research - 2 Cristian Achim, University of California San Diego, CA Grace Aldrovandi, Children's Hospital of Los Angeles, CA Dong Sung An, University of California Los Angeles, CA Abigail Batchelder, University of California San Francisco, CA Milagros Becerra, University of California San Diego, CA Constance Benson, University of California San Diego, CA Ajay Bharti, University of California San Diego, CA Harold Burger, University of California Davis, CA Adam Carrico, University of California San Francisco, CA Si-Han Chen, University of California San Francisco, CA Mariana Cherner, University of California, CA Judith Currier, University of California, Los Angeles, CA Satya Dandekar, University of California, CA Peter Davidson, University of California San Diego, CA Demetrius dela Cruz, University of California San Diego, CA Roger Detels, University of California Los Angeles, CA David Doan, Walden University, CA Christian Michael Dutton, University of California San Francisco, CA Maria Ekstrand, University of California, CA Ronald Ellis, University of California San Diego, CA Xavier Erguera, University of California San Francisco, CA Yvette Flunder, United Church of Christ, CA Jonathan Fuchs, San Francisco Department of Public Health, CA Gabriel Galindo, University of California San Diego, CA Philippe Gallay, The Scripps Research Institute, CA Frank Galvan, Bienestar Human Services, CA Sourav Ganguly, University of California Berkeley, CA Cyril Gaultier, Cedars Sinai Medical Center, CA Lisa Georgetti Gomez, University of California San Francisco, CA Sara Gianella Weibel, University of California San Diego, CA Tari Gilbert, University of California Los Angeles, CA Igor Grant, University of California Los Angeles, CA Warner Greene, Gladstone Institutes/UCSF, CA Tracy Handel, University of California San Diego, CA David Hardy, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA, CA Diane Havlir, University of California, CA Rulin Hechter, Kaiser Permanente, CA Shana Hughes, University of California San Francisco, CA Julia James, University of California San Francisco, CA Alok Joglekar, California Institute of Technology, CA Mallory Johnson, University of California San Francisco, CA Mi-Suk Kang Dufour, University of California San Francisco, CA Susan Kegeles, University of California San Francisco, CA Susan Kiene, San Diego State University, CA Sam Kim, University of California Los Angeles, CA Valerie Kirby, California HIV/AIDS Policy Research Center, UCSF, CA Scott Kitchen, University of California Los Angeles, CA Jane Koehler, University of California San Francisco, CA Elise Landais, The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, CA Daniel Lee, University of San Diego Medical Center - Owen Clinic, CA Scott Letendre, University of California San Diego, CA Mary Lewinski, University of California San Diego, CA Marguerita Lightfoot, University of California San Francisco, CA Susan Little, University of California San Diego, CA Shanna Livermore, University of Southern California, CA Cathy Logan, University of California San Diego, CA Gabriel Maldonado, TruEvolution, Inc., CA Maria Cecilia Marcondes, The Scripps Research Institute, CA Alexander Marr, University of California San Francisco, CA Marta Massanella, University of California San Diego, CA Christopher Mathews, University of California San Diego, CA Sanjay Mehta, University of California San Diego, CA Lori Montross, University of California San Diego, CA Kevin Morris, The Scripps Research Institute, CA Joseph Morris, University of California San Francisco, CA S Murphy, University of California, CA Support HIV Research - 3 Janet Myers, University of California, CA T Neilands, University of California San Francisco, CA Enzo Patouhas, University of California San Francisco, CA Kristie Peterson, Mass Amherst, CA Heather Pines, University of California San Diego, CA Albert Plenty, University of California San Francisco, CA Elizabeth Reed, University of California San Diego, CA Robert Reinhard, University of California San Francisco, CA Victoria Roberts, University of California San Diego, CA Timothy Rodwell, University of California San Diego, CA Theodore Ruel, University of California, San Francisco, CA Parya Saberi, University of California San Francisco, CA Francisco Samudzi, University of California San Francisco, CA Andrew Saphire, The Scripps Research Institute, CA John Sauceda, University of California San Francisco, CA Louise Scharf, Caltech, CA Rachel Schrier, University of California San Diego, CA Svetlana Semenova, University of California San Diego, CA Barbara Shacklett, University of California Davis, CA Laramie Smith, University of California San Diego, CA Celsa Spina, University of California San Diego, CA Steffanie Strathdee, University of California San Diego, CA Radhika Sundararajan, University of California San Diego, CA Paul Tagliaferri, University of California San Diego, CA Judy Tan, University of California San Francisco, Division of Prevention Science, CA Will Toperoff, University of California San Diego, CA Sarah Treves-Kagan, University of California San Francisco, CA Milenka Vargas, University of California San Diego, CA Rolando Viani, University of California San Diego, CA Jennifer Wagman, University of California San Diego, CA Andrew Ward, The Scripps Research Institute, CA John Weeks, University of California San Francisco, CA Barbara Weiser, UC Davis School of Medicine, CA Sheri Weiser, University of California San Francisco, CA Dan Werb, University of California San Diego, CA Cory White, University of California San Diego, CA Ida Wong-Sefidan, University of California San Diego, CA Troy Wood, University of California San Francisco, CA Sarah Woolf-King, University of California San Francisco, CA Richard Wyatt, The Scripps Research Institute, CA John Zaia, City of Hope, CA Benjamin Zovod, University of California San Francisco, CA Michael Zwick, The Scripps Research Institute, CA Edward Janoff, University of Colorado Denver, CO Sharon Seifert, University of Colorado Denver, CO Frederick Altice, Yale University,
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