I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4519 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize the Director of the 

National Institutes of Health to make awards to outstanding scientists, 

including physician-scientists, to support researchers focusing on pediatric 

research, including basic, clinical, translational, or pediatric pharmacological research, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 26, 2019 

Mr. ENGEL (for himself and Mrs. RODGERS of Washington) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize the 

Director of the National Institutes of Health to make 

awards to outstanding scientists, including physician-scientists, to support researchers focusing on pediatric research, including basic, clinical, translational, or pediatric 

pharmacological research, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Pediatricians Accel5 erate Childhood Therapies Act of 2019’’ or the ‘‘PACT 

6 Act of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. TRANS-NIH AWARDS FOR EARLY-CAREER PEDI2 ATRIC RESEARCHERS. 

3 Part G of title IV of the Public Health Service Act 

4 (42 U.S.C. 288 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

5 the following new section: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 489A. TRANS-NIH AWARDS FOR EARLY-CAREER PEDI7 ATRIC RESEARCHERS. 

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the NIH shall 

9 make awards to outstanding scientists, including physi10 cian-scientists, to support researchers focusing on pedi11 atric research, including basic, clinical, translational, or 

12 pediatric pharmacological research. 

13 ‘‘(b) PRIORITY RESEARCH TOPIC AREAS.—In car14 rying out subsection (a), the Director of NIH, in consulta15 tion with the Director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver Na16 tional Institute of Child Health and Human Development 

17 and the directors of other national research institutes and 

18 national centers that participate within the Trans-NIH 

19 Pediatric Research Consortium, shall— 

20 ‘‘(1) establish priority research topic areas, in21 formed by external stakeholders including research 

22 institutions, research societies, patient organizations, 

23 and industry; and 

24 ‘‘(2) consider opportunities to align such pri25 ority pediatric research topic areas with current and 


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1 future priorities of the National Institutes of Health, 

2 including— 

3 ‘‘(A) childhood cancer; 

4 ‘‘(B) precision medicine, genetics, and 

5 genomics; 

6 ‘‘(C) rare diseases and disorders, such as 

7 sickle cell disease, and other diseases and dis8 orders with significant unmet training needs; 

9 ‘‘(D) fetal, placental, and neonatal develop10 ment; and 

11 ‘‘(E) child and adolescent mental health. 

12 ‘‘(c) PRIORITY AWARDS.—In making awards under 

13 this section, the Director of NIH shall— 

14 ‘‘(1) give priority to researchers, including phy15 sician-scientists, who have a demonstrated pro16 ficiency in conducting pediatric research, but have 

17 not yet achieved research independence at the time 

18 of their application; and 

19 ‘‘(2) give special consideration to researchers 

20 from populations that are historically underrep21 resented in pediatric medical research. 

22 ‘‘(d) REQUIREMENTS.—The Director of NIH— 

23 ‘‘(1) shall require recipients of awards under 

24 this section to use such awards to support pediatric 

25 research activities, including costs associated with 


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1 laboratory staff and other costs associated with the 

2 conduct of research; and 

3 ‘‘(2) may allow recipients of awards under this 

4 section to use such awards for costs associated with 

5 receiving guidance and training from senior re6 searchers as necessary to help such recipients reach 

7 a state of research independence, including con8 ferences and other meeting participation. 

9 ‘‘(e) SUPPLEMENT, NOT SUPPLANT.—Awards made 

10 under this section shall be used to supplement, and not 

11 supplant, other funding for research career development 

12 awards.’’. 

13 SEC. 3. TRANS-NIH PEDIATRIC CONSORTIUM. 

14 Title IV of the Public Health Service is amended by 

15 inserting after section 409D (42 U.S.C. 284h) the fol16 lowing new section: 

17 ‘‘SEC. 409D–1. TRANS-NIH PEDIATRIC CONSORTIUM. 

18 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Director of NIH shall 

19 establish and maintain a consortium to be known as the 

20 Trans-NIH Pediatric Research Consortium (in this sec21 tions referred to as the ‘Consortium’) to coordinate pedi22 atric research programs across the National Institutes of 

23 Health. 


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1 ‘‘(b) MEMBERSHIP.——The members of the Consor2 tium shall consist of representatives of multiple national 

3 research institutes and national centers. 

4 ‘‘(c) CHAIR.—The Chair of the Consortium shall be 

5 the Director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National In6 stitute of Child Health and Human Development (or the 

7 Director’s designee). 

8 ‘‘(d) DUTIES.—In coordinating pediatric research 

9 programs across the National Institutes of Health, the 

10 Consortium shall— 

11 ‘‘(1) establish pediatric research priorities; 

12 ‘‘(2) identify gaps and opportunities for re13 search collaborations involving multiple national re14 search institutes and national centers; and 

15 ‘‘(3) identify opportunities to develop the next 

16 generation of pediatric researchers. 

17 ‘‘(e) CONSULTATION.—The Consortium shall consult 

18 regularly with external experts in the field of pediatric re19 search, including children’s hospitals, children’s research 

20 institutions, patient organizations, and other stake21 holders.’’. 

Æ 


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