The Biden administration’s new biomedical research agency, the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, or ARPA-H, announced Tuesday that its first two hubs will land in the Dallas and Boston areas.
The agency is using a “hub-and-spoke” model rather than centering all activity in one city. Part of the agency’s charter was that it would not be located in Washington, D.C., and members of Congress have spent years jockeying to bring the agency and subsequent STEM jobs to their districts.
Last Thursday, Rep. Michael C. Burgess, R-Texas, led a coalition of 18 Texas lawmakers in a letter urging ARPA-H Director Renee Wegrzyn to select Dallas for the agency’s customer experience hub, noting the area’s already “thriving ecosystem of life science companies” and proximity to two airports.