The that endometriosis impacts roughly 1 in 10 people born female. Gov. Ned Lamont鈥檚 two-year, $55.2 billion budget proposal maintains funding for a new state partnership to continue research and education around the chronic, painful disease that鈥檚 difficult to diagnose and treat.
The efforts are required in a 2023 state law, which was based on recommendations from the . The initial state funding established a biorepository known as EndoRISE. UConn Health and the Jackson Laboratory work together to collect, study and catalog tissue samples from patients to develop diagnostics and treatment aside from surgery.
State Representative Jillian Gilchrest (D-West Hartford) chairs the working group, and said endometriosis research has been .
Federal funding from the National Institutes for Health to study the disease has increased over time, with $27 million of the agency鈥檚 multi-billion dollar budget in 2022, up from $13 million in 2020.
However as the Trump administration continues to push for including the NIH, is uncertain.
鈥淎nd so we have an opportunity to continue doing research that, unfortunately, might be cut in other places in the country,鈥� Gilchrest said.
Gilchrest said the continued implementation of the law, including EndoRISE鈥檚 education, awareness and research expansion, needs $2 million 鈥� almost twice the amount it got . Lawmakers will craft their own budget proposal and present it in April.
EndoRISE co-director and molecular biologist Elise Courtois said patients from St. Francis Hospital in Hartford and Danbury Hospital, will soon be included in their research 鈥� and the group is working on expanding to other hospitals, too.
This expansion is part of the law鈥檚 goal to ensure the sample size includes a diverse group of patients, since the majority of people who are able to get a formal endometriosis .
Learn more
How a CT law is tackling endometriosis, a common, painful disease that's hard to diagnose
