U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet has co-sponsored new legislation to establish grant funding at the National Institutes of Health for early-career pediatric researchers. The goal: to identify gaps in developing new medical treatments for children.

“In recent years, we have seen groundbreaking research on pediatric diseases such as sickle cell disease and leukemia as a result of this dedicated research,” said Bennet. The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, agreed that a greater number of researchers will ensure that children “have access to innovative cures and treatments for the complex medical conditions that they and their families are facing.”

A 2018 article in the journal Pediatric Research reported that pediatric spending at the NIH had only grown by 1.7% from 2004 to 2015. The Coalition for Pediatric Medical Research calculated that the program currently dedicated to early-career researchers of children’s health supported only 36 trainees in 2015, down from 88 in 2011.

U.S. Reps. Diana DeGette and Joe Neguse have co-sponsored a corresponding bill in the House of Representatives.

In that bill, the director of the NIH would award research grants in the areas of childhood cancer, rare diseases, neonatal health, mental health and genetics. The financial aid would go to candidates who “have not yet achieved research independence,” with priority given to historically-underrepresented demographics of researchers.