Cohen Announces $315K for UTHSC
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Congressman Steve Cohen (D-TN-9) today announced that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has awarded the University of Tennessee Health Science Center a federal grant worth $315,000 to develop a safe and effective vaccine to prevent Group A Streptococcal (GAS) infections and their complications. GAS infections include acute rheumatic fever (ARF), rheumatic heart disease (RHD) and invasive disease. The funds will be administered by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
“The research conducted at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center helps improve health care throughout Tennessee and across the country,” said Congressman Cohen. “More than 9,000 cases of invasive GAS disease arise each year in the United States, resulting in more than 1,000 deaths. This new federal funding will provide the research and treatment that will help save lives and reduce those numbers.”
NIAID is one of the Institutes of the National Institute of Health (NIH), which is a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The purpose of NIAID is to conduct and provide funding for research toward the treatment and prevention of infectious, immunologic, and allergic diseases. Its research portfolio includes bio-defense, vaccine research, childhood asthma, immunology, and infectious communicable diseases such as malaria, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, West Nile Virus, and SARS.