NIH and OSTP Hold Listening Sessions on Proposed ARPA-H

President Biden has proposed the establishment of an Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) with a suggested annual funding level of $6.5 billion. To gain more insight into what an ARPA-H would entail, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) are hosting a series of listening sessions to solicit feedback from the community. The topic of each session changes weekly, with today’s focusing on “Advocates for Research on Neurology and Mental Health.” Video recordings of previous sessions will also be made available.

The proposed mission of ARPA-H is to invest in break-through technologies and broadly applicable platforms, capabilities, resources, and solutions with the potential to transform important areas of medicine and health. ARPA-H would aim to conduct high-risk, high-reward research that is often regarded as “too risky” by the private sector. The research would seek to improve the health of all Americans by driving biomedical innovations that may otherwise take too long to be realized without direct federal support.

ASME is closely monitoring all discussions regarding the creation of an ARPA-H. ASME advocates for robust bioengineering research funding and counts bioengineering among its five core technology areas. Bioengineering is an interdisciplinary field that combines engineering principles and knowledge of the physical and life sciences to solve problems in biology, medicine, behavior, and health. Bioengineers have employed mechanical engineering principles in the development of many lifesaving and life-improving technologies such as robotic surgery, the artificial heart, prosthetic joints, diagnostics, and numerous rehabilitation technologies.

Learn more about ASME’s work to promote bioengineering applications and investments: https://www.asme.org/government-relations/public-policy-issues.