ATL Standard

Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce issued the following announcement on June 22. 

A coalition of Georgia business, academic, and nonprofit leaders have partnered to promote Georgia as the home for the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H). The ARPA-H Georgia Coalition is coordinating advocacy efforts in Georgia and Washington, D.C. to bring ARPA-H headquarters to Georgia. ARPA-H received $1 billion in funding from Congress through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). 

The ARPA-H Georgia Coalition was launched in May 2022 and is jointly led by the Metro Atlanta Chamber and the Center for Global Health Innovation and supported by the law firm of Baker Donelson. Additional members include a growing list of public and private universities, businesses, nonprofits, and trade associations dedicated to making the case to the Biden Administration that Georgia should be the home of the ARPA-H headquarters. 

“Georgia’s combination of health science and technology leadership along with a history of combating global disease provides Georgia with the unique infrastructure to host ARPA-H and address the nation’s health challenges of today and tomorrow,” said Dr. Russell Medford, the ARPA-H Georgia Coalition Chairman and CEO of Covanos. “Locating ARPA-H in our state would best position this distinctive agency to innovate and realize its mandate to address health equity, engage global partners, and break new ground.” 

This week, members of Georgia’s Congressional delegation, led by Sen. Raphael Warnock and Rep. Buddy Carter, signed a letter of support highlighting Georgia’s distinct advantages and assets. 

“Georgia’s top ranked universities, medical schools, schools of engineering and research institutions are at the forefront of biomedical and health research to diagnose and cure major diseases,” the letter states. “Boasting a highly diverse talent pool and robust pipeline that include its Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Georgia seeks to solve challenges often overlooked.” 

The Georgia delegation letter highlights for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra Georgia’s “world-class talent, dynamic commercial technology sector, and rich public health research legacy.” The letter also highlights that Georgia’s “higher education and research institutions, together with the CDC and NGOs… have played, and continue to play, a pivotal role in combating polio, smallpox, monkeypox, Ebola, multiple pandemics, and other major diseases” and urged him to “consider the exceptional assets Georgia offers.” 

Original source can be found here.