Opening a day on the Bethesda campus of the National Institutes of Health, this panel explores the impact of health on the economy - as much as half of all economic growth worldwide in the past century has been attributed to advances in health - and the crucial role of biomedical research. At the beginning of the 20th century, one in five American newborns died before reaching age five. Today, thanks largely to medical research, that mortality rate isn't reached until age 62; and average U.S. life expectancy approaches 80. Much of the research that made this possible emerged from NIH programs. With technology driving the cost of genome sequencing down even faster than Moore's law, the prospects for future breakthroughs are bright . provided the nation maintains its commitment to bioscience and is willing to follow through on previous investments.