HHS Deputy Secretary Co-Chairs Steering Group of U.S.-Ireland Research and Development Partnership in Belfast, Northern Ireland

November 20, 2006 - The Honorable Alex M. Azar II, Deputy Secretary of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), co-chaired the Third Meeting of the Steering Group for the U.S.-Ireland Research and Development Partnership on November 12, 2006, in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The American side of the partnership includes HHS components (the HHS National Institutes of Health and the HHS Office of Global Health Affairs) and the U.S. National Science Foundation. Officials from Forfas, Science Foundation Ireland, Invest Northern Ireland, and representatives from academic institutions and the private sector in both Ireland and Northern Ireland make up the rest of the Steering Group. The Irish Ministries of Health and Enterprise, Trade and Employment, and the Departments for Health, Social Services and Public Safety and Employment and Learning of Northern Ireland also actively support the work of the Partnership. InterTradeIreland provides the secretariat for the island of Ireland.

The Steering Group reviewed progress in the Partnership's four priority areas--nanotechnology, cystic fibrosis, sensor research, and diabetes--and settled on a workplan for the coming calendar year. HHS, Ireland and Northern Ireland have been actively stimulating research cooperation between the three jurisdictions in these priority areas, and the Steering Group will meet again in March 2007, in Washington, D.C.

Last revised: December 04, 2007