NextGov.com, March 5, 2021

by Brandi Vincent

The Health and Human Services Department recently kicked off market research to inform an ambitious, multimillion-dollar effort to spur rapid breakthroughs against Lyme disease, a common tick-borne illness that can upend lives.

“With 30-plus years of the funding for Lyme and everything not going up much—but the cases increasing a lot—patients have looked at it as the government is ignoring them, and denying their suffering. And it’s just been really antagonistic,” HHS Chief Data Scientist Kristen Honey told Nextgov.

…Honey is no stranger to the trauma posed by the infection: She personally endured it. In a conversation with Nextgov, Honey shed some light on the complications that accompany Lyme disease and provided a deep look into the department’s ongoing work to accelerate new advancements for patients who suffer from it. READ MORE.