The George Washington University (GW) School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS) partnered with Research!America to participate in its “Reasons for Research” campaign.
Scientists at medical institutes across the United States created videos discussing why federal support for medical and health research is crucial to saving lives and reducing health care costs.
Using the power of social networking, the videos put a human face on the scientific enterprise and show policymakers and the public why funding from federal health and science agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and more, should remain a high priority even in constrained budget environments.
In the videos submitted by SMHS, Victoria Shanmugam, MD, director of the Division of Rheumatology and associate professor of medicine, talks about her translational research in rheumatologic disease; Brad Jones, PhD, assistant professor of microbiology, immunology, and tropical medicine, talks about his research looking at ways to harness the immune system to cure HIV infection; and Aileen Chang, MD, MSPH, assistant professor of medicine, talks about her research on viruses spread by mosquitos, such as Zika. The videos can be watched on the #GWSMHS Research playlist.
GW recently became an academic member institution of Research!America, a nonprofit advocacy alliance which seeks to “increase public and policymaker awareness of the health and economic benefits of medical research and build a strong base of citizen support for more research and innovation.”
