Letter to Hon. Xavier Becerra - Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher Advocates for ARPA-H to be Located in Texas

Letter

Dear Secretary Becerra,
As Members of Congress from Texas and as strong supporters of the Administration's efforts to
create the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), we write to request that as
you determine where the agency will be located, you strongly consider the State of Texas.

Recent advances in biomedical and health sciences--from immunotherapy as a cancer treatment,
to the highly effective COVID-19 vaccines--demonstrate the strengths and successes of the U.S.
biomedical enterprise. Such advances present an opportunity to revolutionize how to prevent,
treat, and even cure a range of diseases including cancer, infectious diseases, Alzheimer's
disease, and many others that together affect a significant number of Americans. We agree that
the creation of ARPA-H will be an integral component of this effort and have been vocal
supporters of its creation since it was announced by President Biden.

In March, you announced that ARPA-H would be part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH),
but that the physical location would not be at the agency's campus in Maryland. We recognize
this as an opportunity to leverage the existing medical research and development occurring in
states across the country, and Texas has the existing infrastructure and expertise to ensure this
new agency's success.

Texas is home to multiple world-class medical facilities including the largest medical center in
the world, the largest military medical complex in the nation, and the only Biosafety Level 4
(BSL-4) lab co-located with a national primate center. Texas is well positioned to lead the way
in medical innovation and stands ready to put its best and brightest minds in biotech research to
work solving our biggest and most complex health care problems.

As you consider the location of the physical location for ARPA-H and continue to work to
establish this new agency and begin its vital work finding breakthrough treatments, we urge you
to consider Texas as its new home. We stand ready to work with you in any way possible to
begin this important work.