Chicago City Wire

U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) led members of the Illinois Congressional Delegation underscoring their support for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services locating the new Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health’s (ARPA-H) Hub No. 3 in the Chicagoland area. The lawmakers highlighted Chicagoland’s unique position with its geographical location, array of jobs, companies, students and professionals in life sciences and various local stakeholders’ commitment to health equity as reasons why the region should be a strong contender for Hub No. 3 as HHS considers its options.

“The Chicago area is the perfect home for an ARPA-H investor catalyst hub that will effectively and efficiently connect performers with financial resources to bring innovative products and services to market. Chicago is advantageously located in America’s heartland, serving as our Nation’s rail hub, with approximately 25 percent of all freight trains passing through Chicago; it also serves as home to two international airports, including the second-busiest airport in the United States. Chicago’s robust and diverse distribution networks, combined with an impressive and talented workforce, helps explain why the region has become home to a strong manufacturing sector, particularly pharmaceuticals and medical equipment manufacturing.”

Along with Duckworth and Durbin, the letter was co-signed by U.S. Representatives Jonathan Jackson (D-IL-01), Robin Kelly (D-IL-02), Delia Ramirez (D-IL-03), Jesús “Chuy” García (D-IL-04), Mike Quigley (D-IL-05), Sean Casten (D-IL-06), Danny Davis (D-IL-07), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL-08), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL-09), Brad Schneider (D-IL-10), Bill Foster (D-IL-11), Nikki Budzinski (D-IL-13), Lauren Underwood (D-IL-14) and Eric Sorensen (D-IL-17).

The full text of the letter is available here and below. 

Dear Secretary Becerra and Director Wegrzyn:

We write in strong support of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) locating Hub No. 3 in the Chicago area, as proposed in the bid submitted by consortium management firm National Security Technology Accelerator (NSTXL), which the City of Chicago has aligned itself with.

The Chicago area is the perfect home for an ARPA-H investor catalyst hub that will effectively and efficiently connect performers with financial resources to bring innovative products and services to market. Chicago is advantageously located in America’s heartland, serving as our Nation’s rail hub, with approximately 25 percent of all freight trains passing through Chicago; it also serves as home to two international airports, including the second-busiest airport in the United States. Chicago’s robust and diverse distribution networks, combined with an impressive and talented workforce, helps explain why the region has become home to a strong manufacturing sector, particularly pharmaceuticals and medical equipment manufacturing.

Beyond geographic advantage, Chicago offers an incredible innovation ecosystem. Chicago is home to one of the largest urban medical districts in the US, includes over 75 incubators and accelerators, top research universities such as The University of Chicago, Northwestern University and the University of Illinois System, and houses the fastest Supercomputer located at Argonne National Lab. Chicago offers an affordable option for new companies and researchers, in comparison to the cost of coastal cities. In the Midwest, innovators can spend dollars on innovation rather than lab space. Life Sciences is one of Chicago’s fastest growing tech verticals with an increase of 297 percent in private investment from 2019 to 2021. This rapid growth helps explain why Mark Zuckerberg and Dr. Priscilla Chan chose Chicago when seeking a site for their new biomedical research hub.

Congress established ARPA-H with clear intent to establish a biomedical research agency that would be fundamentally different from the long-standing organizational model and culture of the National Institutes of Health and other Federal research entities. Locating Hub No. 3 in the heart of the Midwest’s economic engine, Chicago, would send a strong message that ARPA-H is truly committed to making sure promising ideas and projects are transformed into commercial success available to every American. That is why we strongly support the NSTXL application to locate Hub No. 3 in Chicago. Thank you in advance for your consideration.

Original source can be found here.