Thursday, January 7, 2010

Bennet: Senate Approves Funding to Boost Research on Respiratory Illness at National Jewish Medical Center

Defense Appropriations Bill Now Headed to President’s Desk

Michael Bennet, U.S. Senator for Colorado, announced today that National Jewish Medical Center’s Center for Respiratory Biodefense is on track to receive $2.4 Million in federal funding for the continued development of a Respiratory Biodefense Initiative.

The funding was included at Bennet’s request in the Defense appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2010. The bill was approved by the Senate today and is now headed to the president’s desk for this signature.

“The current flu season reminds us of the critical importance of research into respiratory illness. With this funding, National Jewish can continue its top-notch work in this field and continue to develop better detection and prevention strategies,” Bennet said.

The initiative’s mission is to make advances on the understanding of the mechanisms of injury. The unique focus of this program is to view the lung as an immune organ. Infections with anthrax, influenza, and multi-drug resistant tuberculosis commonly begin in the lungs.

The continued development of a Respiratory Biodefense initiative at National Jewish will benefit the entire state by developing the understanding of the mechanisms of injury at the molecular level to develop effective means of detection, prevention and therapy.

National Jewish has been named the No. 1 Respiratory Hospital in America for the last 11 years by U.S. News and World Report.

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