Government Reopens After Shutdown
BU IN DC
Graham Wilson, Katharine Lusk, Katherine Levine Einstein, David Glick, Maxwell Palmer, Stacy Fox, and Patricia Cahill of the Initiative on Citiesreleased the annual Menino Survey of Mayors at the National Press Club on January 23.
Dean Sandro Galea of the School of Public Health discussed his book, Healthier, with more than 100 alumni at the Army Navy Country Club on January 24. He and Catherine Ettman also met with officials at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and on Capitol Hill.
Tony Janetos of the Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Futureattended the National Council for Science and the Environment’s annual conference on January 23 and 24.
GOVERNMENT REOPENS AFTER SHUTDOWN
The federal government reopened Monday evening after a three-day shutdown that forced federal agencies to temporarily cease operations; agencies are now operating under a continuing resolution that lasts through February 8th. The new deadline is designed to give Congressional leaders additional time to negotiate a bipartisan agreement to protect Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients and lift caps on federal spending to enable the completion of fiscal year 2018 appropriations. Federal grant-making agencies will continue to withhold funds to grantees until they have certainty about their budgets for the remainder of the fiscal year.
BUZZ BITS…
- The Department of Defense released a summary of its National Defense Strategy last week. Among other things, the document highlights the need to modernize space and cyberspace capabilities, utilize advanced autonomous systems, and cultivate a skilled workforce with expertise in areas ranging from history to data science.
- The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee held a hearing on access and innovation in higher education this week as it continues preparing to renew the Higher Education Act. Two New Englanders were among the witnesses: Dr. Barbara Brittingham of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges and Michael Larsson of Match Beyond.
- Dr. Nina Schor has been named deputy director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) at the National Institutes of Health. Schor previously chaired the department of pediatrics at the University of Rochester.
EVENTS NEWS YOU CAN USE
The Military Health System Research Symposium (MHSRS) released its call for abstracts, including a specific competition for young investigators. This year, MHSRS will feature breakout sessions on infectious disease, blast injury research, health information technology, medical and surgical care, manufacturing innovation, and precision medicine. The Symposium offers an opportunity for academia to engage with program managers and Department of Defense officials, who are often hard to reach, on military biomedical and health-related research topics. Abstracts are due by March 16.