U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin visited Southern Illinois University’s School of Medicine Friday to announce an increase in federal funding for medical research for this year.
Senator Durbin said the federal government will pay an extra $2 billion more than last year to study and treat diseases. The Democrat held up a 3-D model of an infant heart with a birth defect as an example of how advances in medical research can help families.
His late daughter, Christine, had the same heart defect as the 3-D model when she was born.
“She was born 46 years ago," Durbin said. "There was no surgical procedure that we could turn to. Now there are many.”
Funding will go to the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Defense and Veteran Affairs.