NTI meets with senior White House advisors

NTI Board members recently met with a senior policy advisor in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, informally known as the President’s Science Office. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss how to change national policy to reflect the size and impact of trauma on Americans—and how to achieve a level of annual, sustained research funding that would be commensurate with the problem.

The opportunity to affect many Americans with clinical advances in trauma is vast. Not only do 170,000 Americans die each year due to trauma but for each death, 250 patients are treated in the hospital for non-lethal injuries. Trauma remains the number one cause of death and disability among children and young adults in their most productive years and costs our society over $400 billion annually. Despite these statistics, historically funding for trauma has never been commensurate with the magnitude of the problem.

The OSTP representative expressed his willingness to support the national trauma community and to open this dialog. The discussion is continuing, while NTI provides him with further information at his request.