DeLauro Announces National Institutes of Health Grant for Yale Professor

Will Support Research to Improve Health Care, PatientTreatment

WASHINGTON, DC--Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-3) announcedtoday that Dr. Andrew Goodman of Yale University received a prestigiousDirector's New Innovator Award from the National Institutes of Health(NIH). This five-year grant will support Dr. Goodman's work toinvestigate personalized medicine, in which drug regimens are tailored to aperson's genetic makeup. By improving our understanding of thisrelationship, this work has the potential to transform treatments and improvehealth care for patients.

"This highly selective, competitive award is wonderful newsfor Dr. Goodwin and as well as the entire Yale community," DeLaurosaid. "It is especially encouraging to see this support of an early stageresearcher. Dr. Goodwin's work has the potential to improve treatmentsfor patients in a really dramatic way. I am pleased that the NIH hasrecognized the truly innovative spirit of his research."

"This award is very important for my lab as a way tolaunching a new line of research that is highly interdisciplinary, and doesn'thave an obvious home in the funding landscape," said Dr. Goodman,assistant professor of microbial pathogenesis at Yale School of Medicine. "Thissort of funding is particularly important for younger investigators like me,who are usually urged to pursue rather conservative projects."

"It is very rare for junior scientists to get the fundingstability that they need to pursue their research without having to excessivelyworry about how they will support their work," said Dr. Jorge Galán,chair of the Department of Microbial Pathogenesis at Yale School of Medicine."Secure funding is particularly important in the earlier stages of ascientist's career, and has a lasting impact, because it is during this periodthat the pattern is set for how he or she pursues science. With such funding,your thinking is freer, you are more self-confident, and you pursue research ina more creative fashion. We cannnot think of a better person than Andy toreceive this support."

The NIH Director's New Innovator Awards supporta small group of creative investigators with novel research ideas at earlystages of their career.