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HOUSE SCIENCE COMMITTEE
HEARING ON VISAS On February
8th, the House Committee on Science &
Technology, Subcommittee on Research and Science
Education, held a hearing on "Visas for Foreign
Scholars and Students."
The
purpose of the hearing was to " review the
status of visas and other policies governing the
entry into the U.S.
of foreign students and scholars."
Witnesses testified from the
Institute
of Medicine, the
Institute for International Education, Duke
University's
International Office
and the State Department. The six
House Members in attendance were:
Chairman Brian Baird (D-WA); Ranking
Member Vern Ehlers (R-MI); Randy Neugebauer
(R-TX); Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD); Russ Carnahan
(D-MO); and Gerald McNerney (D-CA).
Generally, the tone of the hearing supported
attracting foreign scholars and students to the
US by developing visa
policies that will enable scholars to study or
perform research in the US.
Participants
also focused on relieving the perception that
the
US
does not welcome foreign scholars or that its
visa process is insurmountable.
Witnesses presented data
suggesting some mitigation of many of the
earlier problems with the visa system and
suggesting that foreign student enrollment in
the
US
is on the rise. In
particular, witnesses praised the recent
decision State Department decision to waive in
person consular issues for renewal applicants
who meet certain conditions.
FASEB’s
member society, the International Society for
Computational Biology, supplied data in advance
of the hearing to the National Academies of
Science.
There seemed to be consensus that:
• The US
needs to develop a system to reissue visas
domestically, so visitors do
not have to
worry about delays in obtaining a return visa to
re-enter the US
• There should be greater transparency of
non-immigrant status visa denials, the
214B clause, and a statutory change so
that the default position does not
discourage
foreign scholars from staying the US
• The US
should eliminate the
two year ban on returning to the US for Exchange
Visitor's Program participants
Chairman Baird suggested
that the hearing would result in
behind-the-scenes coordination between the
Committee, the State Department, DHS and perhaps
the witnesses to work toward solutions to the
visa issues foreign students face.
Links to Committee testimony and witness
statements are available here:
http://www.science.house.gov/publications/hearings_markups_details.aspx?NewsID=2064
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FASEB PUBLISHES
BREAKTHROUGHS IN BIOSCIENCE ARTICLE ON THE
HPV VACCINE FOR CERVICAL CANCER
FASEB has released the
latest
article in its
Breakthroughs in Bioscience series,
“Viruses, Cancer, Warts and All:
The HPV
Vaccine for Cervical Cancer.”
Breakthroughs
in Bioscience is a collection of articles
and illustrations FASEB publishes and designs
for non-scientists that explain recent
developments in basic biomedical research and
the ways in which they are important to society.
FASEB
distributes these articles to members of
Congress, advocacy partners, educational
organizations and patient advocacy groups. This
most recent publication describes the scientific
clues that established the connection between
Human Papillomavirus (HPV) and cervical cancer
and ultimately resulted in a vaccine against
this deadly disease.
Each year, cervical cancer
kills more than 250,000 women worldwide.
In the United States alone, doctors
diagnose 11,000 new cases annually.
Our story
demonstrates how a century of basic science
culminated in the first vaccine to prevent
cervical cancer and other diseases Human
Papillomaviruses cause.
Decades
of fundamental research, from insight into the
basic biology of viruses, to findings about how
benign growths like warts form, to strange
pathways involving the legend of the mythical
jackalope, eventually led researchers to the
breakthrough discovery that some forms of HPV
cause cervical cancer. The article also outlines
how cutting edge new technologies, from DNA
hybridization to the generation of virus-like
particles, aided scientists in the creation of
an effective and safe vaccine that can prevent
the vast majority of cervical cancer cases.
Readers
will learn how the HPV vaccine works, the role
of Pap smears and what the future of cervical
cancer vaccines holds.
The article is available
online at http://opa.faseb.org/pdf/2008/HPV.pdf.
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CONGRESSIONAL SCHEDULE
The House and Senate are in session.
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WASHINGTON UPDATE |
