WASHINGTON – The full Maryland congressional delegation, including U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen and Congressmen Steny H. Hoyer, Dutch Ruppersberger, John Sarbanes, Kweisi Mfume, Anthony G. Brown, Jamie B. Raskin, Andy Harris, M.D., and David Trone, today called on U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra to select Maryland as the permanent home for the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), a new agency proposed by President Biden to improve the U.S. government’s ability to speed biomedical and health research.
“As the Department of Health and Human Services launches the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), we respectfully request that you consider the unique advantages the State of Maryland offers that will enable the new agency to achieve its goal of rapidly advancing biomedical research and innovation,” the members write. “ARPA-H would benefit from this robust existing infrastructure, both physical and human, which has allowed other federal agencies and installations headquartered in Maryland, such as the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, the Department of Energy, and Fort Detrick, to thrive. Maryland has a highly educated population with the highest number of employed doctoral scientists of any state. This talented and diverse workforce with extensive experience working in the private-sector and with federal agencies will be essential in developing next-generation solutions that will benefit all Americans. Maryland’s innovative ecosystem will serve to jumpstart the new agency’s ability to make breakthroughs in cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and other diseases.”
The members also underscore that, “Maryland has long been home to world-class medical and research institutions, including federal agencies and universities such as Johns Hopkins University, the University of Maryland, College Park, the University of Maryland, Baltimore, and Morgan State University. This has fostered the development of the I-270 Technology Corridor, a cluster of dozens of life sciences companies already leading biomedical innovation. Additionally, the University of Maryland, Baltimore and Johns Hopkins University have each developed biotechnology parks to partner with a total of over 50 life sciences companies in the research and development of cutting-edge technologies.”
Full text of the letter is available here.
