Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is enlisting actor Dennis Quaid in a new push to raise awareness about Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses, part of the administration’s broader effort to overhaul how the federal government approaches chronic and often-overlooked conditions.
Kennedy said HHS is taking “bold new actions against Lyme disease, alpha-gal syndrome, and other tick-borne diseases,” including steps to accelerate research, improve patient care, and develop new treatments.
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“Millions of Americans need faster diagnoses, better care, and real answers,” Kennedy wrote in a post on X Monday, thanking Quaid “for lending your voice to this important cause and joining me in this video.”
Quaid discussed his late friend, actor Kris Kristofferson, who spent years living with Alzheimer’s disease, as Kennedy announced that HHS is investing millions of dollars to develop artificial intelligence-powered tools aimed at improving patient care.
Kennedy added that HHS has worked with the LymeX community to bring two improved, Food and Drug Administration-cleared Lyme diagnostics to market, giving clinicians better tools to help patients get accurate diagnoses sooner.
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Kennedy has made Lyme disease a central focus of his tenure atop HHS, convening a roundtable on the issue last December and later unveiling plans to award up to $2.5 million for new challenges under the agency’s “LymeX Innovation Accelerator,” a public-private partnership with the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation.
In May, Kennedy set a goal of reducing Lyme disease cases by 25% by 2035 compared with 2022 levels and urged Congress to pass the Kay Hagan Tick Act. He has said the National Institutes of Health is already investing nearly $50 million in Lyme disease research and another $122 million in broader tick-borne disease research, according to the HHS.
