WASHINGTON — Members of the University of Wisconsin-Madison community descended on Capitol Hill Wednesday to make the case for more research funding.
“We can create jobs. We can create innovation, new technologies, and improve human health and improve the human condition,” said Charlie Hoslet, the vice chancellor of university relations at UW-Madison.
One goal of the group this year was to ask for funding for research on personalized medicine with a focus on Alzheimer’s disease and neurological functions.
“These are things that are going to impact not just people in the state of Wisconsin, but indeed people across the country and beyond, as we do these research studies and find new ways to improve human health and human life,” Hoslet said.
This year’s mission is personal for alumna Patty Shinners. She’s a family nurse practitioner who has worked with Alzheimer’s patients.
“If we can kind of wrap our head around that and kind of get a better understanding of Alzheimer's, it will definitely benefit our ability to take care of patients in the future,” Shinners said.
Hoslet said the federal government provides a quarter of UW-Madison’s funding, and a large chunk of that provides financial aid. Though not the main focus of this trip, the lobbying Badgers also made a pitch for more scholarship dollars. That money helps students such as junior Amanda Smith.
“It's made the transition from high school to college immensely more simple for my family,” Smith said. “It’s provided me with the ability to pursue other degrees — graduate school and I'm looking at a Ph. D. program.”
Smith met with lawmakers from both sides of the aisle, going to the offices of Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee. Smith grew up in Milwaukee.
“I think it's really important because financial policy shouldn't be polarized,” Smith said.
UW-Madison ranks eighth in the country for research expenditures, and Hoslet said most of that money comes from the federal government. He said the lawmaker meetings have increased awareness and interest in research programs in the past, and he’s confident it will this time, too.