Posted June 1, 2023

By CDMRP Public Affairs

The Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs� (CDMRP) Hearing Restoration Research Program (HRRP) is committed to delivering groundbreaking research and solutions that remove barriers to the successful treatment of hearing loss and auditory system injury. On January 20, the HRRP hosted the inaugural meeting of the Hearing Research Funders Network, or HRF-Net, to �build partnerships among hearing research funders, foster communication and collaboration, accelerate hearing research, and improve the lives of those affected by hearing loss and other auditory disorders.�

Dr. Quntian �Tian� Wang, program manager for both the HRRP and Vision Research Program, led the effort to organize and conduct the HRF-Net meeting, which took place virtually worldwide.

According to its fiscal year 2021 Annual Benefits Report, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) states that more than 1.3 million Veterans have Service-connected hearing loss. Although patients may be fitted with hearing aids or cochlear implants, neither device can cure hearing loss or restore normal hearing. To date, there is no U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved cure for hearing loss.

Hearing loss affects more than our military and Veteran population alone. According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), a member of the National Institutes of Health, it is estimated that more than 30 million Americans over the age of 12 years have hearing loss in both ears and an estimated 48 million have hearing loss in at least one ear. Therefore, the HRRP continually works to discover safe and effective treatments that may aid all of those dealing with hearing loss.

�The HRRP has excellent collaborations with other federal funding agencies, such as the NIDCD and the VA,� Wang said. �All three agencies see great value in collaborating with private funders of hearing research. We are all part of the hearing research funding enterprise.�

Private funding does not include public funds, such as those from federal, state, or other publicly funded agencies, but may include both grants and gifts, per the mission of the respective organization or entity.

�Private organizations often fund projects at an earlier stage, or they fund young investigators, as they develop their careers and research ideas,� Wang said. �As these projects or investigators mature, they may enter the NIDCD/VA/HRRP's investment pipelines.�

The HRRP took on the task of organizing the HRF-Net's inaugural meeting, and a small planning committee, consisting of Wang and one representative each from both the NIDCD and the VA, was established. The committee met monthly and decided the date, format, agenda, and invitees of the meeting, and the pertinent questions to be discussed.

�Federal funding agencies share common goals with private funders, and we complement each other in many ways,� Wang continued. �As we realized the hearing research funding enterprise would be most effective if all stakeholders could work together, we decided to establish the HRF-Net to create a platform for us to communicate and coordinate our efforts.�

Several weeks before the meeting, Wang hosted a video teleconference with representatives from the HRF-Net member organizations to finalize the schedule and other details.

�The HRF-Net meeting was held virtually - midday to accommodate those members in Europe,� Wang said. �I provided a brief overview of the purpose of HRF-Net and the goal of the meeting, then representatives from 14 organizations, including the HRRP, presented their information. Each presentation was a 10-minute, high-level overview focusing on the respective organization's vision, strategic goals, overall spending, and important collaborations.

�The presentation portion was followed by a discussion session to examine critical topics. These included the best ways to collaborate, examples of successful collaborations, research areas that are missing and/or underfunded, ways to improve outreach to patients and involve patients in reviews, and strategies to raise awareness for hearing research needs.�

Wang believes the inaugural HRF-Net meeting was a great success and stated there seemed to be much enthusiasm from the participants involved.

Dr. Jeremy Nelson, Sensory Portfolio Manager for the Defense Health Agency, attended the meeting and agreed with Wang's assessment.

�Yes, the HRF-Net meeting was a great success, bringing together a great variety of hearing research funding organizations to include multiple U.S. federal agencies as well as international partners,� Nelson said. �Through the open communication this forum provides, organizations can better coordinate their various activities, better align their initiatives, and create overall greater efficiencies in hearing health research and development. Further, the model of the HRF-Net could be extremely useful for other areas of health research.�

Along with the successes, Wang acknowledged a few �missed opportunities, especially in terms of identifying and including all stakeholders.� She said some funders were not able to present during the meeting due to its tight schedule, and there were a few organizations the group was not able to engage. After identifying a small number of organizations that were not initially �on their radar,� Wang said their hope in the coming years is to ensure all stakeholders related to hearing research will be able to participate.

Going forward, Wang said the plan is to continue to meet regularly, so the HRF-Net members may gather throughout the world virtually to work together towards advancements in hearing research.

�I would like to keep the network �alive� and communicate on a regular basis,� Wang said. �Many great suggestions were made at the meeting, and there are appetites for continuous communication.�

According to Wang, the members plan to meet quarterly to share updates and develop newsletters and use social media to broadcast these updates. She added some HRF-Net members recently met in person during the Association for Research in Otolaryngology's annual meeting and held further discussions on plans for future engagement.

�The HRF-Net's inaugural meeting kick-started a broad alliance with tremendous potential, and I believe it will help us in our effort to accelerate hearing research for so many throughout the world,� Wang said.

For more information on the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs, the Hearing Restoration Research Program, or other CDMRP programs, or for information on becoming a member of the HRF-Net, please visit the CDMRP website at https://cdmrp.health.mil.

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