FoNIBIB convenes NIBIB grantees to serve as scientific experts, presenting to Members of Congress and their staffers about the important contributions of medical and biological engineers to healthcare innovation and the essential role of NIBIB funding in supporting this work.
Some examples of past congressional briefing topics include:
- Per- and Polyfluorinated Substances (PFAS) in Medical Devices
- AI to Improve Health Care
- Using Nanotechnology to Target Disease
- Innovative Medical Technologies Using Tissue Engineering and 3D Printing
2025 FoNIBIB Congressional Briefing – Non-Animal Models in Biomedical Research: Current & Future Opportunities
On September 12, 2025, FoNIBIB organized a Congressional Lunch Briefing on “Non-Animal Models in Biomedical Research: Current & Future Opportunities” in collaboration with the House Longevity Science Caucus. Over forty attendees, including legislative aides to Members of Congress and government relations staff from various science stakeholder groups, attended the event. Dr. Lola Eniola-Adefeso (AIMBE President) provided opening remarks followed by a presentation by Dr. Bruce Tromberg (NIBIB Director), on the Institute’s strategic investments to support New Approach Methodologies (NAMs), opportunities for their growth, and key considerations for validating and commercializing these technologies. Drs. Wilbur Lam (Emory University and The Georgia Institute of Technology) and Jenny Munson (Fralin Biomedical Research Institute and Virginia Tech) spoke on biological and computational technological approaches to NAMs. We emphasized the crucial role of the medical and biological engineering community in leading these efforts to enable their full potential as complementary approaches and potential replacements to traditional animal models. Click here to view our educational one-pager on NAMs.
