Member Spotlight: Global Health Technologies Coalition

December 14, 2020

Celebrating the partnerships and policymakers driving global health innovation
By Marissa Chmiola, Senior Communications Lead, GHTC

COVID-19 has upended our world like no disease in living memory—and underscored with devastating clarity how important smart policymaking, strong partnerships, and access to technologies are to confronting global health challenges.

It’s a message that’s been central to GHTC’s advocacy over the past decade as we’ve worked to advance funding and policies to accelerate the development of new vaccines, treatments, and other tools to fight the world’s deadliest diseases, and it’s a message that especially vital today. We know we won’t successfully defeat COVID-19, or prevent future threats like it, without embracing science, partnership, and global cooperation to ensure everyone, everywhere can benefit from the fruits of research.

While 2020 has brought little cause for celebration, GHTC still believes there is merit in recognizing and celebrating those policymakers and organizations who have embraced these important values and in doing have made the world a healthier place. That’s why GHTC was pleased to recognize three extraordinary honorees—Senator John Boozman, Senator Patty Murray, and the CARB-X partnership for antibacterial research—with our 2020 Innovating for Impact Awards.

The contributions of this year’s honorees have been truly immense. Our Congressional Champions—Senators Boozman and Murray—have worked for decades to strengthen US global health and research programs and have sought to confront COVID-19 with a global perspective in mind, resolute in their belief that helping our global neighbors is the right and smart thing to do. Our Partnership Award honoree—CARB-X—has shown what progress is possible when we join together across sectors and nations to confront grand health challenges, an important lesson at this moment of crisis.

While GHTC is disappointed we couldn’t recognize these honorees in person, as we have done in past years, we invite you to learn more about their unique contributions below and hope you will join us in celebrating them online using our digital toolkit.

During his two decades in Congress, Senator John Boozman has been a steadfast and influential champion for global health, often working outside the spotlight to foster support among his Republican colleagues. He founded what is today the Congressional Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases Caucus and has consistently leveraged his committee roles to advance resources for global health innovation. Learn more>

Through her leadership positions on the Appropriations and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committees, Senator Patty Murray has worked tirelessly to advance a healthier, safer world through innovation. She has fought passionately to protect and expand funding for the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and infectious disease research at the Department of Defense. Learn more>

In 2016, the US government—via the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority and the National Institutes of Health—and Wellcome Trust joined together to launch CARB-X, a global nonprofit partnership dedicated to accelerating antibacterial research. Since its inception, this partnership has supported 75 diverse projects across ten countries with its portfolio now representing the world’s largest early development pipeline of antibacterial innovations. Learn more>

The Global Health Technologies Coalition (GHTC) works to save and improve lives by encouraging the research and development of essential health technologies. We bring together more than 25 nonprofit organizations, academic institutions, and aligned businesses to advance policies to accelerate the creation of new drugs, vaccines, diagnostics, and other tools that bring healthy lives within reach for all people.