SEPT. 12, 2022.....With President Joe Biden due in town Monday to describe his vision of a world in which cancer as we know it is a thing of the past, some of the state's top political, higher education and business leaders are hoping his administration will recognize the role that Massachusetts could play in making that vision a reality.

The Coalition for Health Advances & Research in Massachusetts (CHARM) is the organized effort led by U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, Gov. Charlie Baker, the University of Massachusetts, the Mass. Biotechnology Council and others to convince the federal government to put the new Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) in Massachusetts. Modeled after the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the new agency was created by the Biden administration and funded with $1 billion that was included in legislation that passed in March.