The Innovating for Impact Awards honor the multisector partnerships and policymakers helping to transform breakthrough scientific research into lifesaving drugs, diagnostics, vaccines, and other health tools for unmet global health challenges.
The initiative, formerly annually and now biennial, recognizes a research partnership that has advanced a game-changing global health technology and US members of congress whose actions have furthered policies and political will to accelerate innovation to tackle the world’s most threatening diseases and health conditions. In 2022, GHTC has added a special Lifetime of Service award to recognize the extraordinary contributions Dr. Anthony Fauci has made to advancing global health innovation throughout his career.
2024 Honoree
Senator Cory Booker
Congressional Champion Award
As Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health Policy, Senator Cory Booker has established a reputation as a top champion for global health innovation. During his decade in the Senate, he has sponsored numerous bills to bolster health research and development. Senator Booker introduced the Supporting Innovative Global Health Technologies (SIGHT) Act to create a dedicated health research program at the US Agency for International Development, as well as the STOP Neglected Diseases of Poverty Act to boost research against diseases that disproportionally impact impoverished communities both abroad and at home and the PREDICT Act to improve infectious disease monitoring. He is also a cosponsor of the PASTEUR Act to advance incentives for antibiotic development.
Widely recognized for his compassionate, empathic, and bipartisan approach to policymaking, Senator Booker has touted the importance of maintaining US leadership in global health. “Threats to global health are an international security issue, and we must make significant advancements to protect the health and well-being of not only Americans, but people around the world,” he has said.
The United States must continue to strengthen our commitment to global health innovation. Investing in USAID’s research and development of transformative health technologies will help us address the most pressing challenges facing our global community. The SIGHT Act is a critical step toward improving our nation’s ability to respond directly to health emergencies worldwide with cutting-edge, lifesaving technology.
Senator Cory Booker Congressional Champion Honoree
2024 Honoree
Senator Susan Collins
Congressional Champion Award
Senator Susan Collins has been a steadfast champion for medical research and global health programs during her nearly three decades in the Senate. As Vice Chair of the Senate Committee on Appropriations and member of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, Senator Collins has played a pivotal role in protecting and expanding funding for global health research at the National Institutes of Health and other key agencies. Additionally, over her career, she has supported several critical bills to bolster global health innovation, including introducing the Reach Every Mother and Child Act to advance innovative tools to end preventable child and maternal deaths and cosponsoring the 2021 PASTEUR Act to boost antibiotic development and the 2019 End Tuberculosis Now Act to catalyze new tools to combat tuberculosis.
Recognized for her ability to reach across the aisle to forge bipartisan solutions, Senator Collins keenly understands the potential of health research investments. “Biomedical research holds tremendous promise for treating many of the most costly and devastating diseases we face,” she has stressed.
Nearly all maternal and child deaths occur in the developing world, and each year, millions of these deaths occur because of treatable or preventable causes….It is vital that the United States continue to provide global leadership in the areas of maternal, newborn, and child health.”
Senator Susan Collins Congressional Champion Honoree
2024 Honoree
Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan
Congressional Champion Award
In her three terms in Congress, Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan has already established a stellar track record of supporting global health research and development. She co-introduced the Supporting Innovative Global Health Technologies (SIGHT) Act to establish a dedicated health research program at the US Agency for International Development, as well as cosponsored other notable legislation to strengthen preparedness and response to health emergencies, including the Global Health Security and Global Pandemic Prevention and Biosecurity Acts. Additionally, she has regularly deployed her pen and her voice to rally appropriators to increase funding for global health programs that support the development of vaccines, medicines, and other tools.
As a former engineer and chemistry teacher, Representative Houlahan has embraced the promise of innovation to solve global challenges and views global health as a cornerstone of American foreign policy. “We, as Americans, stand to gain a great dealing from working with our global partners on everything from vaccine development to distribution to the study of zoonotic diseases. Diseases do not respect borders,” she has said.
As health emergencies continue to affect communities worldwide, it's important that we invest in organizations with a track record of successfully advancing global health. One great example is USAID. I am proud to introduce this bipartisan piece of legislation [the SIGHT Act] to support USAID, enabling them to advance cross-cutting research and development and respond quickly to emerging public health threats.
Honoring: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Bio Farma; Cevaxin; US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Fighting Infectious Diseases in Emerging Countries; US Food and Drug Administration; icddr,b; Intravacc; London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine’s Medical Research Council Unit The Gambia; PATH; UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency; UNICEF; University of Antwerp; University of California, San Francisco; World Health Organization; and all partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.
Polio is a devastating infectious disease that can lead to permanent paralysis or death among those affected. Thanks to global vaccination efforts, the number of worldwide polio cases has dropped by 99 percent since 1988. The first-generation oral polio vaccine was a key tool in driving this progress; it prevents person-to-person transmission and is affordable and easily delivered. However, in rare cases, this vaccine, which is made from a weakened form of the virus, can lead to outbreaks of vaccine-derived polio in communities with low immunization coverage. Because the world has achieved such stunning success in reducing polio, these variant cases today outnumber wild polio cases, posing a significant barrier to eradication.
To address this challenge, a constellation of global partners came together to develop the novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2), a next-generation oral vaccine that offers the same advantages as its predecessor but has been engineered to be less likely to cause variant cases. In 2020, nOPV2 became the first-ever vaccine to be authorized for emergency use by the World Health Organization, and since then, more than a billion doses have been delivered to children in high-risk settings. nOPV2 is a testament to the power of global partnerships and a groundbreaking innovation bringing us closer to a polio-free world.
It has been immensely rewarding for PATH to have played a role in advancing nOPV2 from a research candidate to a commercial product. Generating real-world impact through our work is the reason we do what we do. Accelerating progress toward polio eradication goals with an improved vaccine has been a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Dr. John Konz Global Head,Viral Diseases, PATH
The fight against polio has always been a story of partnerships…So many countries, partners, and people came together to develop this vaccine. This nOPV2 journey is an example of pushing the boundaries of innovation and doing it as a global team.
Dr. Ananda Bandyopadhyay Deputy Director of Technology, Research, and Analytics, Polio Team, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
