From William Repicci, President & CEO
There is new urgency when it comes to the fight against lymphatic diseases. Where once we measured success in inches, we now mark milestones. These advancements are fueled by LE&RN activists raising their voices with the institutions that can provide necessary change.
With the proposed NIH Advanced Research Project Agency-Health (APRP-H), there is renewed energy in investments for treatments and cures that bear results in five years that would otherwise take fifty. Significantly, LE&RN was invited to make the case for lymphatic research via a Zoom presentation with NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins.
The National Heart, Blood, and Lung Institute of the National Institutes for Health highlighted Advances and Challenges in Treating Lymphedema in an August interview with Dhruv Singhal, M.D., Director of Lymphatic Surgery at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston—a LE&RN Center of Excellence.
This fall, LE&RN will collaborate with a pharma company and researcher on a drug study to treat lymphedema.
And we await word from the CDC regarding upcoming awards for Chronic Disease Awareness grants, a program for which LE&RN advocated heavily to be included in the FY2021 appropriations bill.
Finally, with both Senator Gillibrand and Senator Feinstein sponsoring the request, we look for a breakthrough in getting lymphatic diseases added to the Department of Defense’s Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program (PRMRP).
I congratulate you all on these accomplishments and invite you to enjoy this month’s issue of Lymphedema and Lymphatic Disease Matters.
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National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Dr. Francis Collins invited William Repicci, President & CEO of LE&RN, to present the case for lymphatic research via an August 5 Zoom meeting. This request was made as part of NIH’s examination of how a new Biden administration-proposed research program, the 
NIH's National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHBLI) featured Dhruv Singhal, M.D., Director of Lymphatic Surgery at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston (a LE&RN Center of Excellence), in its August newsletter. The feature was a Q&A with Dr. Singhal entitled "Advances and Challenges in Treating Lymphedema."
LE&RN and its members have been advocating to unlock the Department of Defense (DoD) Peer-Reviewed Medical Research Program (PRMRP) so that lymphatic researchers can apply for research funding through this program that dispenses nearly $400 million in grants annually. 
In July, there was a dramatic edit to the FY2022 Congressional appropriations bill, supported by Committee Chair Rep. Rosa DeLauro and Committee Member Rep. Tom Cole (both pictured here). Rather than “encouraging” NIH to establish a National Commission on Lymphatic Diseases, it is now directed to do so. Likewise, the bill “directs” NIH to report on LE research within 30 days (rather than 60) and “directs” it to create a research category for lymphedema.