Floor Remarks by Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa
Senate President Pro Tempore
“Advancements in Cystic Fibrosis”
Wednesday, December 10, 2025
A few times every year, I come to the floor to compliment the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. I’m here again to do it. It’s once again shown it’s a leader in medicine and advancing new treatments.
As the co-founder and co-chair of the Senate’s Cystic Fibrosis Caucus, I take a keen interest in cystic fibrosis treatment advancements.
Dr. Michael Welsh at the University of Iowa has recently received several awards for his research on cystic fibrosis that has paved the way for new therapies, which is transforming the lives of people with cystic fibrosis.
Most recently, Dr. Welsh received the 2025 Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award.
Dr. Lasker’s award [is] sometimes called “America’s Nobels,” and are among the world’s most prestigious biomedical and clinical research awards.
Cystic fibrosis is a lethal genetic disease that affects a person’s lungs, pancreas and other organs, and typically results in morbidity and even mortality.
Until recently, living with cystic fibrosis was challenging and often led to infections in lungs that were very difficult to treat.
Thanks to Dr. Welsh’s research, we can now target cystic fibrosis at the molecular level – that's resulted in 90% of cystic fibrosis patients benefiting from the new and improved treatments.
Doctors no longer treat only a person’s symptoms – they actually correct a person’s defective gene through treatment discovered by Dr. Welsh.
I would like to thank Dr. Welsh, as his senator and as chair of the Cystic Fibrosis Caucus, for his decades of pioneering work on the fundamental biology of cystic fibrosis, and also to congratulate him on winning this prestigious Lasker Award.
His landmark discoveries have led to new, life-saving therapies that correct the effects of genetic disorders.
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