Health and Medicine Division

**Impact** HMD committee members and staff are regularly invited to testify before Congress. In the past year alone, their testimonies have informed Congressional action on childhood poverty and trauma, relief for burn pit veterans, and the allocation of a COVID-19 vaccine. Our work takes a “health in all policies” approach, integrating health considerations in the recommendations we make to the housing, education, environment, and other non-health sectors. HMD volunteers are also persistent in promoting their recommendations at the conference podium and in the halls of Congress. Often, their efforts drive policy changes that affect the lives of affected communities. Beyond our federal policy impact, our reports have shaped policies at the state and local levels, including state regulation of e-cigarette use, making CPR training a middle and high school graduation requirement, and prioritizing early childhood health interventions in state budgets.  *Members of the committee that wrote Vibrant and Healthy Kids brief policymakers on their recommendations for promoting health equity in early childhood.* *From left to right: Nadine Burke-Harris, Natalie Slopen, Jennifer DeVoe, Albert Wat* **Impact** HMD committee members and staff are regularly invited to testify before Congress. In the past year alone, their testimonies have informed Congressional action on childhood poverty and trauma, relief for burn pit veterans, and the allocation of a COVID-19 vaccine. Our work takes a “health in all policies” approach, integrating health considerations in the recommendations we make to the housing, education, environment, and other non-health sectors. HMD volunteers are also persistent in promoting their recommendations at the conference podium and in the halls of Congress. Often, their efforts drive policy changes that affect the lives of affected communities. Beyond our federal policy impact, our reports have shaped policies at the state and local levels, including state regulation of e-cigarette use, making CPR training a middle and high school graduation requirement, and prioritizing early childhood health interventions in state budgets. View Report to Congress on Health and Safety **Influential Leadership** Behind every HMD report, workshop, and initiative, there’s a community – 3,000 strong – of talented, forward-thinking leaders. They’re devoted clinicians and educators; the brain trust behind medical and scientific breakthroughs; domestic and global policymakers; and the leaders of nonprofits, foundations, and corporations. Several of them are members of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Medicine, or National Academy of Engineering, elected by their peers for their distinguished achievements in their fields. As health and medicine evolves, HMD’s volunteers have grown along with it. Many have given years or even decades of service to the National Academies, contributing to dozens of studies, forums, and roundtables. While they come from different backgrounds and disciplines, they find themselves coming for similar reasons: stimulating projects, rewarding collaborations with colleagues, and gratifying opportunities to shape policies, advance scientific knowledge, and influence public opinion. Every National Academies study and activity is guided by highly qualified staff members. Staff help to create an objective environment, ensure volunteers focus on answering specific sets of questions, and enforce the high standards of scientific and technical quality for which we are known. They bring global and domestic expertise to our work, they know how to solve intellectual problems, and they build strong partnerships with volunteers – all while carrying out our mission. **Delivering Rigorous, Well-Timed Advice** HMD’s core work consists of consensus studies, usually of six months to two years in duration. But in times of crisis – including the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic – the nation needs somewhere to turn for reliable and trusted advice. In response to a request from the federal government, the National Academies immediately convened a standing committee to inform our country’s response to the pandemic and other future 21st century health threats. At the height of the pandemic, the committee responded to scientific and policy questions on a near-daily basis. Whether it’s a rapid expert consultation or a traditional consensus study, the rigor of our study process remains the same. We work closely with sponsors to define the questions each report will answer. Checks and balances are applied at every step in the study process, and all reports must undergo a final, independent review to ensure they are impartial, objective, and grounded in scientific evidence.