Advances in Medicine and Health: Understanding the physical sciences "behind the curtain"

Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) | Senator Jeff Bingaman (invited) (D-NM)

The great strides in medicine and health in recent years have been due in part to supporting advances in physical sciences. As Nobel Laureate Harold Varmus said when he was director of the National Institutes of Health, Medical advances may seem like wizardry. But pull back the curtain, and sitting at the lever is a high-energy physicist, a combinatorial chemist or an engineer.

A recent report of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology stated that R&D funding was becoming dangerously imbalanced and our ability to continue great advances in the medical is at risk. They recommended that physical sciences funding levels be brought to parity with the life sciences. This briefing explored the role that the physical sciences play in supporting the medical and life sciences and described the everyday impacts that physical sciences research has on our daily lives.