FDA Voices, Congressional Champions, and New Partnerships at WHIC

On Wednesday, the Washington Health Innovation Council attendees and speakers shared insights, perspective and engaged in direct dialogue and I'm appreciative of all who participated and joined our JK Strategies, Public Affairs, LLC Innovation Infusion party afterwards.

The words of senior FDA leaders Kyle Diamantas and Sanjula Jain-Nagpal resonated with the group, as they talked about the MAHA agenda and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary's range of innovations and the positive reactions from FDA staff and from a range of stakeholders.

I recommend signing-up for the FDA Direct podcasts - there are no better communications tools being used by the Administration to substantively give insights on how the new policies and process improvements are being implemented. See link in comments

Thank you to former HHS Secretary, The Honorable Alex Azar, for joining and interacting with our innovators, providers, patient groups and investors. Secretary Azar was the architect of Operation Warp Speed, a strong advocate for non-opioid solutions to address the opioid crisis and in 2019 launched the "Advancing American Kidney Health" initiative, representing the most significant changes to US kidney care in over 50 years.

And special thanks to Congressman Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), a Hill leader dedicated to helping to make Americans healthier than ever, in promoting life-sciences innovation, more access to rare disease therapies for families and finding a cure for Parkinson's.

At JK Strategies, Public Affairs, LLC Strategies we have a great group of colleagues and strategic partners and were especially happy to have had our new strategic partner, friend and former colleagues Charles Curie who headed up the George W. Bush 43 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) join our meeting and brief the group on the mental health epidemic, the severe shortage of providers and exciting developments in the e-mental health field. Thanks to our WHIC platinum partner Goodwin and Matt Wetzel for his in-depth and always insightful briefing.

We are looking forward to helping our partners and allies advance their interests and navigating what will be one of the most eventful Fall policy seasons ever.