Taking Action
The Coalition supports both federal legislation as well as regulatory or agency actions to strengthen laws, policies and programs that support pediatric research. Following are current coalition public policy priorities:
Strengthen support for early-career pediatric researchers:
The Coalition supports bipartisan legislation known as the Pediatricians Accelerate Childhood Therapies (PACT) Act (S. 2345 and H.R. 4717 during the current 118th Congress) that if enacted would establish an NIH training award specifically for early-career researchers focusing their careers in pediatrics. Awards would support individual investigators and would prioritize awards to qualified candidates from populations historically under-represented in the field. Awards could also support minority serving institutions or collaborations involving such institutions and academic research institutions focused on developing talent from under-represented populations. The PACT Act would also authorize the NIH Pediatric Research Consortium that NIH established in 2018 and would require some biennial reporting on the work of the consortium.
Current Action Needed: Contact your Senators and House member to urge that they cosponsor this legislation if they are not already doing so. Click here for current Senate cosponsors and here for current House cosponsors.
Recruit children into the All of Us Research program:
The Coalition supports the All of Us Research Program moving forward to recruit and enroll children into its ranks. The Coalition believes the lack of recruitment of children to date has been a limiter and is pleased that the program has added a new pediatric director and is actively working toward child recruitment in 2023. The Coalition will continue to engage with All of Us leadership on this important topic.
Ensure ARPA-H can support child health research opportunities:
The Coalition has long been concerned about limitation associated with some research programs that have limited applicability to child health interests. The Coalition has been actively engaging with the leadership of the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Health (ARPA-H) on this topic to ensure this new program can support potential transformative and breakthrough research of relevance to children and adolescents.
