Washington, D.C., June 27, 2008—AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges) President and CEO Darrell G. Kirch, M.D., issued the following statement today, thanking the Senate Appropriations Committee for approving a $1.025 billion increase for the National Institutes of Health (NIH):

"We congratulate the Senate Appropriations Committee for passing its FY 2009 spending bill, which includes a 3.5 percent increase in funding for the NIH. As Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), noted earlier this week, this increase will allow the NIH to award the highest number of new research project grants in its history and keep up with the biomedical inflation rate for the first time in six years.

We are heartened by this recognition of the importance of a sustained federal investment in medical research, which is a critical component of the nation's efforts to meet the health challenges of the 21st century.

We also wish to thank the House Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee for its equally strong support of the NIH, and urge the committee to resolve its differences on unrelated matters and work to move forward on this issue, which is vitally important to the health of all Americans."

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The Association of American Medical Colleges is a not-for-profit association representing all 129 accredited U.S. and 17 accredited Canadian medical schools; nearly 400 major teaching hospitals and health systems, including 68 Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers; and 94 academic and scientific societies. Through these institutions and organizations, the AAMC represents 109,000 faculty members, 67,000 medical students, and 104,000 resident physicians. Additional information about the AAMC and U.S. medical schools and teaching hospitals is available at www.aamc.org/newsroom.

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