We are honored to host U.S. Senator Roy Blunt on our Mizzou campus on Wednesday of this week. We are giving him a tour of the MU Health Care vaccination clinic and then hosting a roundtable discussion with university leaders and faculty members on the health challenges facing our state.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Mizzou has been committed to protecting the health of our local and statewide communities. The state of Missouri has designated MU Health Care as one of three sites in the mid-Missouri region (Region F) to receive a vaccine allocation intended to provide high-volume community vaccination. We are honored to be charged with this responsibility. Being a national leader in health care means stepping up when your people and communities need you most. We will continue to do that moving forward. And with the grand opening of our NextGen Precision Health facility in October, we will be able to accelerate life-changing discovery and efficiently move that research from the bench to the bedside, bringing new solutions to our citizens and boosting Missouri’s economic growth.

As Chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee Labor/HHS, Senator Blunt secured six consecutive funding increases for the National Institutes of Health, bringing the total increase to $12.85 billion, or 42.7%. So, it’s no surprise that Senator Blunt has been a champion of our NextGen initiative from the beginning, and he remains committed to furthering the work of our university to expand health care access and efficacy.

We are so excited he has the opportunity to see this hard work that will improve and save lives in Missouri.

— Mun