On 8 April 2013, the Rally for Medical Research (http://www.rallyformedicalresearch.org/) united almost 200 organizations and millions of people across the US in support of biomedical research. They joined together to advocate sustained government investment in the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) to “spur more progress, inspire more hope and save more lives.” The rally took place on the steps of the Carnegie Library in Washington, DC, coinciding both geographically and chronologically with the 2013 Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR). Many AACR conference attendees participated in the rally, carrying signs and wearing t-shirts proclaiming their support. Rally organizers urged supporters to personalize their signs and shirts with felt-tip markers by scrawling their own responses to the question, “What do you rally for?” The rally was broadcast live online through YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y23FFtBWzdY), and participation through social media was encouraged for those who could not attend in person.

Organization of the rally was motivated by concerns about declines in federal funding for medical research. NIH funding has been static since 2003 and is now facing a 5% cut under the congressional sequestration plan.

AACR, which organized the rally, estimates that a crowd of 10,000 gathered on the lawn, streets and sidewalks in front of the Carnegie Library, joined by an 18-foot-tall inflatable microscope meant to showcase the rally's goal to “put Washington under its lens and the NIH in focus.” Chants of “more progress, more hope, more life” echoed across Mt. Vernon Square as the rally got under way.

Cokie Roberts, journalist and political analyst, moderated the rally program, which included members of the US House of Representatives; officers of research organizations and institutions; celebrity spokespersons; and patients, survivors, caretakers and family members touched by diseases including cancer, diabetes, stroke and HIV. Roberts told the crowd, “It could not be a stupider time to cut funding for medical research... We are right on the cusp of so many breakthroughs. And this is exactly the moment to push forward, certainly not to pull back or stay even.”

President Barack Obama provided remarks in a statement read by Margaret Foti, AACR Chief Executive Officer: “Throughout our nation's history, we have depended on the ingenuity of our people to pioneer innovation and solve the problems of our time. To meet the challenges of the twenty-first century, we must commit to a serious, sustained effort to advance medical research.”