Today, Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07) celebrated the announcement that the Biden administration has selected Texas as its Customer Experience Hub for the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H).  ARPA-H is an independent agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that helps develop innovative solutions to society’s most challenging health problems—including Alzheimer’s, diabetes, and other diseases.

“After advocating for the establishment of ARPA-H, as well as its placement in Texas, I am thrilled that the Biden administration has selected Texas as one of three ARPA-H hubs across the United States,” said Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher.  “With Houston home to the largest medical center in the world and Texas home to multiple more world-class medical facilities, including the largest military medical complex in the nation, Texas leads the way in medical innovation and stands ready to collaborate on transformational research at the ARPA-H Customer Experience Hub.  As a national center for accelerating medical research, this hub will ensure researchers across our state lead transformative biomedical and health efforts to solve our biggest and most complex health care problems for all Americans.

“And I am thrilled that ARPA-H is awarding its second major funding award to Rice University in Texas' Seventh Congressional District,” continued Congresswoman Fletcher.  “This $45 million funding award will help expedite groundbreaking cancer research, which will have a significant impact on our community and the world.  I look forward to continuing to support ARPA-H’s efforts to improve the well-being of all Americans and I am grateful to the Biden administration for their continued support of our region.”

The Customer Experience Hub will focus on developing health solutions that will be accessible, needed, and readily adopted.  It will take a proactive approach to diversify clinical trials, reach representative patient populations, leading to better health outcomes for everyone.  Houston, Austin, Dallas, and San Antonio are poised to support ARPA-H’s success in building a hub in Texas based on the state’s diverse patient population, robust health care and research infrastructure, strong research-to-treatment pipeline, and robust statewide and national network of consortium members aligned with ARPA-H’s goals for the Customer Experience Hub.  The other two hubs will be in the Boston, MA and Washington, D.C. regions.

ARPA-H also announced this week that it will award $45 million to Rice University to rapidly develop new cancer technology. 

In the last Congress, Congresswoman Fletcher voted for legislation to appropriate $1 billion to establish the ARPA-H agency, which President Biden signed into law.  

In 2022, Congresswoman Fletcher and Congressman Colin Allred (TX-32) led a letter with 10 of their colleagues urging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to consider Texas as the location for the ARPA-H, and in 2023, Congresswoman Fletcher partnered with bipartisan members of the Texas delegation to advocate for the hub’s placement in Texas.