Anthropology鈥檚 Sean Bruna testifies before the U.S. Senate on the harm of recent terminations at the Department of Health and Human Services
On May 23, 草榴社区 Associate Professor of Anthropology Sean Bruna gave testimony at a Senate hearing in Washington, D.C. on public health.
The two-day spotlight forum was organized by Senator Peter Welch (D-VT) and Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis).
Representatives who are formerly of the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Administration for Children and Families, and many other organizations spoke on behalf of their former agencies.
Until January, Bruna served as the senior advisor to the director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
鈥淒ismantling AHRQ will have nationwide consequences. It weakens evidence-based care. It hinders health care from addressing emerging threats and dismantles grant programs that support current research and the training of future researchers. It eliminates mandatory funding from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Trust Fund, requiring an Affordable Care Act amendment, and strips vital tools from state and local health systems working to improve care,鈥 Bruna said.
鈥淚n short, the two applied science strands that facilitate medical progress and aid in implementing scientific innovations in our healthcare systems would be lost,鈥 he concluded.
Bruna is a medical anthropologist, a health policy expert and a health services researcher. He was appointed to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) by the Biden-Harris administration.
Frances Badgett covers the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and the College of Fine and Performing Arts Communications. Reach out to her with story ideas at badgetf@wwu.edu.