Research!America to Honor Top Medical and Health Leaders at Advocacy Awards Event

ARLINGTON, Va., Feb. 4, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Research!America is pleased to announce recipients of the Edwin C. Whitehead Award for Medical Research Advocacy, the Isadore Rosenfeld Award for Impact on Public Opinion and the Meeting the Moment for Public Health Award. These awards will be among the honors bestowed during the 30^th Annual Advocacy Awards, given each year to recognize individuals and organizations whose leadership efforts have advanced the nation's commitment to medical and health research and science more broadly. Research!America will formally present the awards during an event at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C., on March 10, 2026.

Our distinguished awardees announced today:

Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) will receive The Edwin C. Whitehead Award for Medical Research Advocacy. Sen. Britt has represented the state of Alabama in the U.S. Senate since 2023. A member of the Appropriations Committee, Sen. Britt is a dedicated and influential advocate for funding lifesaving and life-changing medical research. She has demonstrated a deep commitment to ensuring the National Institutes of Health remains the gold standard of biomedical research across the nation and globe. Among her contributions to advancing the health of the American people through research and curing diseases, she has championed legislation to bolster youth mental health research, advance diabetes research, and fund research on maternal care and mortality.

A strong champion for American R&D across the health ecosystem, Sen. Britt has cosponsored legislation that strengthen incentives for robust U.S. R&D investment, including the American Innovation and Jobs Act. 

Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) will receive The Edwin C. Whitehead Award for Medical Research Advocacy. Sen. Coons has represented the state of Delaware since 2010. Sen. Coons is a strong supporter of medical and health research. He sponsored the Accelerating Access to Critical Therapies for ALS Act, signed into law in 2021, which included the establishment of a public-private partnership to advance ALS R&D. He has co-sponsored numerous research-relevant bills, including the DeOndra Dixon INCLUDE Act, which promotes Down Syndrome research, the National Plan to End Parkinson's Act, the Autism CARES Act, BOLD Infrastructure for Alzheimer's Act, and the BRAIN Act, which promotes brain tumor research.

Sen. Coons regularly advocates for NIH. He has consistently signed "Dear Colleague" letters urging robust funding for NIH. As a member of the Appropriations Committee, he plays an influential role as a champion for NIH and other key research and public health agencies. He is also a long-standing champion of policies aimed at strengthening the R&D ecosystem as a whole.

The Edwin C. Whitehead Award for Medical Research Advocacy, named in honor of Research!America founder Edwin C. "Jack" Whitehead, recognizes exemplary leaders, particularly those in public office, who have demonstrated a deep commitment to advancing medical and health research as a national priority and who galvanize others in support of science. The Edwin C. Whitehead Award for Medical Research Advocacy is generously supported by the Whitehead Charitable Foundation and the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research.

"Sens. Britt and Coons are outstanding leaders in Congress who are standing up to support research and innovation in America at a time when the need has never been greater to put research to work to find the solutions to what ails us," said Research!America President and CEO Mary Woolley. "Their hard work and the example they set will help the U.S. maintain its leadership role in medical and health research."

Amy Maxmen, Ph.D., National Public Health Reporter, KFF Health News, will receive The Isadore Rosenfeld Award for Impact on Public Opinion. This award is presented annually to a news media representative or other influential individual who has been extraordinarily effective in delivering medical, public health, or other health-related research messages to the public. Maxmen, an award-winning journalist, covers efforts to prevent diseases, health disparities, and public health policies. Previously in her career, she was a senior reporter at Nature and has written for outlets including The New York Times, National Geographic, and Wired.

The McClintock Letters will receive the Meeting the Moment for Public Health Award, which recognizes an individual or organization that has been a "clear voice," playing a key role in communicating important public health information to the public and rising to the challenge of the day. This award is part of the Outstanding Achievement in Public Health Awards generously supported by Johnson & Johnson.

Responding to threats to the federal scientific research infrastructure, the Cornell Advancing Science And Policy Club (ASAP), along with the Scientist Network for Advancing Policy (SNAP), organized The McClintock Letters Initiative to spur scientists to write letters about their work to more than 200 newspapers across 45 states, D.C., and Puerto Rico. Scientists were encouraged to write opinion pieces for their hometown newspapers to share what their research is about, why it matters, and why science is worth investing in. The goal was to simultaneously publish the op-eds across the country during the week of June 16, which is Nobel Prize-awarded geneticist Barbara McClintock's birthday.

"Amy Maxmen, through her reporting, has set a high standard for sharing the benefits of medical research and innovation to the public through her communication of trusted, fact-based information," Woolley said. "The McClintock Letters campaign is a powerful example of research advocacy. Their letters helped shape public opinion, and as we are reminded by the great words of President Abraham Lincoln: 'With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it, nothing can succeed.'"

Information on honorees previously announced can be found in our earlier press release.

Please visit our 2026 Advocacy Awards webpage for bios of each honoree and details about Research!America's various awards.

About Research!America

Research!America is a non-profit medical and health research advocacy alliance which advocates for science, discovery, and innovation to achieve better health for all. For over 30 years, Research!America has been commissioning surveys to help understand public support for medical, health, and scientific research, among other state, national, and global issues related to public health and research and innovation. Visit www.researchamerica.org.

SOURCE Research!America