[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2345 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2345

To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize the Director of the 
National Institutes of Health to make awards to outstanding scientists, 
  including physician-scientists, to support researchers focusing on 
   pediatric research, including basic, clinical, translational, or 
      pediatric pharmacological research, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 18, 2023

 Ms. Ernst (for herself and Mr. Coons) introduced the following bill; 
     which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, 
                     Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize the Director of the 
National Institutes of Health to make awards to outstanding scientists, 
  including physician-scientists, to support researchers focusing on 
   pediatric research, including basic, clinical, translational, or 
      pediatric pharmacological research, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Pediatricians Accelerate Childhood 
Therapies Act of 2023''.

SEC. 2. TRANS-NIH AWARDS FOR EARLY-CAREER PEDIATRIC RESEARCHERS.

    Part G of title IV of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 288 
et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new section:

``SEC. 489A. TRANS-NIH AWARDS FOR EARLY-CAREER PEDIATRIC RESEARCHERS.

    ``(a) In General.--The Director of the NIH shall make awards to 
public and nonprofit entities to support outstanding scientists, 
including physician-scientists, to support early-career researchers 
focusing on pediatric research, including basic, clinical, 
translational, or pediatric pharmacological research.
    ``(b) Priority Research Populations.--In carrying out subsection 
(a), the Director of NIH may prioritize the issuance of awards to--
            ``(1) individual researchers at institutions described in 
        subsection (a) presenting qualifying applications and 
        representing populations that have been historically 
        underrepresented in pediatric medical research, including women 
        and underrepresented racial minorities; or
            ``(2) institutions of higher education that are eligible to 
        receive funds under part A or B of title III of the Higher 
        Education Act of 1965, part A or B of title V of such Act, or 
        subpart 4 of part A of title VII of such Act, or research 
        institutions partnering with such institutions of higher 
        education to offer programs to support early-career pediatric 
        researchers.
    ``(c) Priority Research Topic Areas.--In carrying out subsection 
(a), the Director of NIH, in consultation with the Director of the 
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human 
Development and the directors of other national research institutes and 
national centers that participate within the NIH Pediatric Research 
Consortium, shall--
            ``(1) establish priority research topic areas, informed by 
        external stakeholders, including research institutions, 
        professional societies, patient advocacy organizations, and the 
        private sector; and
            ``(2) consider opportunities to align such priority 
        pediatric research topic areas with current and future 
        priorities of the National Institutes of Health, including--
                    ``(A) pediatric and adolescent mental and 
                behavioral health, including addiction medicine;
                    ``(B) childhood cancer;
                    ``(C) precision medicine, genetics, and genomics;
                    ``(D) rare diseases and disorders, such as sickle 
                cell disease, and other diseases and disorders with 
                significant unmet training needs; and
                    ``(E) fetal, placental, and neonatal development.
    ``(d) Requirements.--The Director of NIH--
            ``(1) shall require recipients of awards under this section 
        to use such awards to support pediatric research activities, 
        including costs associated with laboratory staff and other 
        costs associated with the conduct of research; and
            ``(2) may allow recipients of awards under this section to 
        use such awards for costs associated with receiving guidance 
        and training from senior researchers and mentors, as necessary 
        to help such recipients reach a state of research independence, 
        including conferences and other meeting participation.
    ``(e) Supplement, Not Supplant.--Awards made under this section 
shall be used to supplement, and not supplant, other funding for 
pediatric research and pediatric training.''.

SEC. 3. NIH PEDIATRIC RESEARCH CONSORTIUM.

    Title IV of the Public Health Service is amended by inserting after 
section 409D (42 U.S.C. 284h) the following new section:

``SEC. 409D-1. NIH PEDIATRIC RESEARCH CONSORTIUM.

    ``(a) Establishment.--The Director of NIH shall establish and 
maintain a consortium to be known as the NIH Pediatric Research 
Consortium (in this sections referred to as the `Consortium') to 
coordinate pediatric research programs across the National Institutes 
of Health.
    ``(b) Membership.--The members of the Consortium shall consist of 
representatives of multiple national research institutes and national 
centers.
    ``(c) Chair.--The Chair of the Consortium shall be the Director of 
the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human 
Development (or the Director's designee).
    ``(d) Duties.--In coordinating pediatric research programs across 
the National Institutes of Health, the Consortium shall--
            ``(1) establish new or confirm existing National Institutes 
        of Health pediatric research priorities, including priorities 
        involving multiple national research institutes or national 
        centers;
            ``(2) identify gaps and opportunities for research 
        collaborations involving multiple national research institutes 
        and national centers; and
            ``(3) identify opportunities to develop the next generation 
        of pediatric researchers.
    ``(e) Consultation.--The Consortium shall consult regularly with 
external experts in the field of pediatric research, including 
children's hospitals, children's research institutions, patient 
organizations, and other stakeholders.
    ``(f) Reporting.--Beginning one year after the date of enactment of 
the Pediatricians Accelerate Childhood Therapies Act of 2023 and every 
2 years thereafter, the Consortium shall submit to Congress, and make 
publicly available on the website of the National Institutes of Health, 
a report on--
            ``(1) any research project involving pediatrics and 
        involving more than one national research institute or national 
        center that was supported during the review period;
            ``(2) any strategic initiatives that include proposed 
        research activities focused on pediatrics;
            ``(3) career development awards supporting early-career 
        researchers focused in pediatrics, including specific numbers 
        of awards and amount of funding, made during the review period;
            ``(4) details on the composition of awards supporting 
        early-career researchers, including deidentified, aggregate 
        demographic data indicating the proportion of early-career 
        researchers supported by the awards who are from populations 
        that have been underrepresented in pediatric medical research; 
        and
            ``(5) such other information as the Director of NIH 
        determines appropriate.''.
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