When 2,700 advocates from all 50 states raised their voices in unison, Congress listened.
In a critical move for our community, Senator Richard Blumenthal (CT) opened his Senate sign-on letter to the Appropriations committee by highlighting celiac disease funding requests for Fiscal Year 2026. In the letter, Senator Blumenthal asked for sustained National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding for celiac disease research as well as the continued inclusion of celiac disease as an eligible condition for study with the Department of Defense’s (DoD) Peer-Reviewed Medical Research Program (PRMRP).
This is an annual letter that Senator Blumenthal leads on behalf of the celiac disease community and represents a crucial step of the appropriations process each year to ensure that Congress hears loud and clear the importance of celiac disease research.
We quickly called our advocates across the country to action, and your response was overwhelming! 2,700 emails were sent to Senators from all 50 states asking that they sign-on to Sen. Blumenthal’s letter, and we are proud to share that 7 Senators in total signed this year’s letter – the most to join this campaign in its history!
And Congress heard us. On May 15, 2025, the DoD announced that celiac disease was officially included as an eligible topic area in the FY26 PRMRP funding call.
This progress is all thanks to our advocates, and we cannot thank you enough for your support! Because of your work, Congress knows the celiac disease community will continue to fight for essential research funding.
Thank you to all who participated, and please stay tuned for campaign updates. Received this as a forward or from a friend? Please become a Policy Advocate here.
View the final letter here.