Even before the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health came into being — in fact, even before anyone properly understood what ARPA-H was — metropolitan areas and states have been vying for the opportunity to house the organisation.
However, the lobbying campaign that was conducted by colleges, corporate leaders, members of Congress, and mayors of major cities in the United States is now finished.
The conclusion was reached not with a shocking revelation or a ceremonial cutting of the ribbon, but rather with a mostly bureaucratic and underwhelming pronouncement that the Biden administration intends to distribute the riches more evenly. ARPA-H will have its headquarters distributed in a hub-and-spoke fashion among three major metropolitan areas: the suburbs of Washington, D.C.; Cambridge, Massachusetts; and Dallas. The government made the announcement on Tuesday that more “spokes” will be distributed across the country at a total of ten locations, ranging from Florida to Alaska.