The following is an excerpt from a Boston Globe story featuring insights from MassBio CEO & President Kendalle Burlin O’Connell:
While the impact of Bhattacharya’s visit to Massachusetts remains unclear, several leaders in the state’s biomedical industry viewed it as a turning point — and a hopeful sign that the Trump administration was reconsidering its assault on federal science funding.
“It was a very important inflection point,” said Kendalle Burlin O’Connell, CEO and president of MassBio, a trade and lobbying organization for the life sciences industry. “It was a sign that the NIH director wanted to work collaboratively — and the messages were heard and resonated.”
Soon after Bhattacharya’s visit, Trump administration officials began to relent on key sticking points of an appropriations package that includes funding for the NIH and other health agencies, according to lobbying groups for the life sciences industry.