To advocate for scientific research funding, Brown medical and doctoral student Angel Byrd and 15 students from other institutions met March 15 with staffers from several members of congress including U.S. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) The meetings were part of “Hill Day,” sponsored by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Byrd, who is interested in pediatric endocrinology and childhood obesity, said, “My main goal is to provide a real-life example of an aspiring physician scientist who has been afforded the opportunity to engage in scientific biomedical research. Funding that has been provided by the National Institutes of Health has accelerated and progressed the research that is ongoing in our laboratory and has allowed for multidisciplinary collaboration.”