Monthly Archives: August, 2014

A Weekly Advocacy Message from Mary Woolley: Labor Day Weekend Check List

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Dear Research Advocate:

Labor Day might mean a last chance for R&R, but it also means that election day is right around the corner. It only takes a minute to send a quick email or direct a tweet to candidates. Think of them as candidates for the role of R&D champion! And take a moment to share this call to action with your colleagues, friends and family. The power of social media is undeniable.

aycbeachThere are only 10 days until Congress returns to Washington to face a lengthy to-do list, which is unlikely to shrink much before the November elections. Appropriations action for FY15 has stalled out, with new battle lines being drawn over the time span for a Continuing Resolution (CR). Whatever the length, a CR is no more a solution than is kicking the can down the road on tax provisions. The medical device tax remains unchanged despite its intuitively counterproductive effect on the capital needed to develop lifesaving medical technologies, not to mention the jobs and new businesses that go with that development.  In addition, the R&D tax credit has not been renewed, let alone enhanced or made permanent. If we want our GDP to grow, our tax policies should be aligned with that goal. As things stand, if we don’t figure out how to boost our economy, China’s GDP is projected to surpass ours by 2017.  Continue reading →

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Posted in: Advocacy Messages, Ask Your Candidates!, Mary Woolley, Mary Woolley Weekly Advocacy Messages | Tagged: , , ,

A Weekly Advocacy Message from Mary Woolley: Deep thoughts occasioned by ice buckets

By rablogs on | 1 Comment

Dear Research Advocate: 
 
You have by now heard about the ALS “ice bucket” challenge (show support for ALS research by dumping a bucket of ice water over your head and/or writing a check for $100 to the ALS Association, then challenge three others to do the same.)  Whether viewed as a welcome late-summer distraction from imponderables like conflict in the Middle East, on-going clashes in Ferguson, Mo., or the mounting death toll from Ebola, or, rather, as the emergence of a new kind of advocacy similar to what produced the walks, runs and bike-rides for research that are ubiquitous today, the “ice bucket challenge” is worthy of attention.

I think that public attention to the “ice bucket” challenge is not only good for ALS research (and all the patients and their families who cope with this devastating illness), but is an opportunity to engage a newly-interested sector of the public, including all those members of Congress who have accepted the challenge. Think about those freely written $100 checks and consider that the NIH budget buys only about $100 worth of medical research per American, per year, on all diseases as well as vital basic research.  Add to that other federal agencies’ budgets, the private sectors’ expenditures (industry, academia, philanthropy, patient groups) and we can maybe triple that amount (generously computed, and including development along with research). Is that enough to assure better health and prosperity for our nation? I’d say not even close.  Not when brilliant young people are discouraged to the point of leaving the country if they want to work in science;  not when other nations are poised to take over U.S. leadership in R&D; not when we are looking at ALS heartbreak and huge federal debt associated with the costs of Alzheimer’s, as just two crises we should be focused on intently, with all the resources we can bring to bear.  Continue reading →

Posted in: Advocacy Messages, Basic Research/Basic Science, Mary Woolley, Mary Woolley Weekly Advocacy Messages, National Institutes of Health, Research Investment/Funding, Research!America | Tagged: , , ,

Federal Health Agencies Ramp Up Efforts to Fight Ebola

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Colorized transmission electron micrograph revealing some of the ultrastructural morphology displayed by an Ebola virus virion. Photo credit: Frederick A. Murphy

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) sent more than 50 disease detectives and other highly trained experts to West Africa to battle Ebola. While here in the U.S., more than 350 CDC staff are working on logistics, communications, analytics, management and other functions to support the response 24/7 at CDC’s Emergency Operations Center.“We are fulfilling our promise to the people of West Africa, Americans, and the world, that CDC would quickly ramp up its efforts to help bring the worst Ebola outbreak in history under control,” said CDC Director Tom Frieden, MD, MPH.  “We know how to stop Ebola.  It won’t be easy or fast, but working together with our U.S. and international partners and country leadership, together we are doing it.” Read more here.

Meanwhile, researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) are studying Ebola and seeking better ways to diagnose and treat the disease. In 2013, the NIAID reported spending $42.49 million on Ebola research. Public-private partnerships are critical to containing and preventing such deadly outbreaks. The NIAID is collaborating with Okairos, a biotech company, to develop Ebola vaccines. The NIH is working with the drugmaker Mapp Biopharmaceutical to scale up production of its Ebola drug Zmapp and partnering with BioCryst to advance the company’s experimental treatments. 

Sustained and robust federal funding is needed to respond to global health threats, and to support the development of vaccines to combat Ebola and other deadly diseases. Policymakers must assign a higher priority to medical research to ensure the health and wellness of Americans.

Click here to urge your representatives to support increased funding for federal health agencies in FY15.

 

Posted in: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Global and Public Health R&D, Research Advocacy | Tagged: , , ,

A Weekly Advocacy Message from Mary Woolley: Can we put a dent in the costly toll of suicide?

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Dear Research Advocate: 
 
The loss of American Icon Robin Williams has riveted national attention on suicide, one of the 10 most common causes of death in the United States. Today, we are releasing our updated fact sheet on suicide that you can use when meeting with lawmakers and educating others about the impact research can have. Efforts to prevent suicide rightly draw on research findings. But progress has been painfully slow, stymied by serious gaps – partly due to severely limited funding – in the basic research base that precedes private sector development, and stymied by the equivalent of handcuffs placed on social science research.

The notion promulgated by some in the Congress that social sciences research doesn’t add enough value to merit federal funding is not just unfounded, it’s holding us back. Social sciences research saves lives. Case in point: behavioral research guided the development of a suicide intervention that was pilot tested in schools in Georgia and Connecticut and resulted in a 40% reduction in attempted suicides. It has since been implemented in schools across the country. This is just one example of social sciences research at work.

Research moves faster when patient advocates engage. This is the history of the nation’s commitment to defeating polio, to ramping up HIV/AIDS research, to prioritizing breast cancer research and women’s health research overall. Writing in the New Yorker last month, Seth Mnookin described the impact that “dedicated … well-informed families” can have in pushing progress. In his responsive letter to the editor, Peter L. Saltonstall, CEO of the National Organization for Rare Disorders, focused on the use of social media by patient groups to establish global registries, taking full advantage of abilities we didn’t have just a few years ago, and in so doing, saving lives. But there is another message here. The research community must work more closely with patient advocates in order to drive medical innovation. As one of the researchers in the Mnookin article said, “Gone are the days when we could just say, ‘We’re a cloistered community of researchers, and we alone know how to do this.’” Continue reading →

Posted in: Advocacy Messages, Basic Research/Basic Science, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Economic Impact, Food & Drug Administration, Innovation/Competitiveness, Mary Woolley, Mary Woolley Weekly Advocacy Messages, Mental Health Research, National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Prevention & Public Health, Research Advocacy, Research Investment/Funding, Research!America | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

How To Help Accelerate Medical Progress In America

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Excerpt of an article published in the Imperial Valley News.

AYCEach year in the United States, nearly 16,000 kids are diagnosed with cancer. And on any given day, as many as 5 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease. Beyond its debilitating symptoms, the death rate for Alzheimer’s is on the rise.

But there are steps you can take to protect your family from these potentially devastating medical conditions.

One idea that may come as a surprise to many Americans is to contact your congressional representatives and the candidates for their seats.

That’s the suggestion of a national, nonpartisan, voter education initiative called “Ask Your Candidates!” designed to empower voters to talk to candidates about the future of medical progress in the United States. Congress plays a key role in influencing the future of lifesaving research. Many voters are asking candidates if, once elected, they will vote to increase federal funding for medical research and support policies that spur innovation.

The initiative helps voters engage candidates on social media and through local events, grassroots, advertising and other interactive projects.

Read the full article here.

Posted in: Advocacy Messages, Ask Your Candidates!, Innovation/Competitiveness, Research Advocacy, Research!America | Tagged: , , ,

Communicating Your Science to the Non-Expert

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On July 23, the Society for Neuroscience held  its first interactive webinar titled “Communicating Your Science to the Non-Expert.” During the webinar, speakers discussed how to effectively describe the health and economic impact of your research to a nonscientific audience including policymakers and the media. The presentation covers the basics of crafting an elevator speech and a question and answer session with scientists.

Watch the entire recording online or one chapter at a time:

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Posted in: Advocacy Messages, Basic Research/Basic Science | Tagged: , , , , , ,

A Weekly Advocacy Message from Mary Woolley: Behind the headlines

By rablogs on | 1 Comment

Dear Research Advocate:

News of the rising death toll from the Ebola outbreak in West Africa has captured attention in the U.S. With the arrival of two American patients for treatment in Atlanta earlier this week, we are reminded of our truly global society and the importance of a nimble research ecosystem. Complex global disease threats exemplify the importance of both the public and private sectors in protecting our health.  Why, then, are we not fully funding the NIH, CDC and FDA to ensure the  robust public health infrastructure needed to respond to population-wide threats, to pursue vaccine development and other prevention strategies, and to develop new treatment options for Ebola and a host of other threats?  Why have we not truly empowered industry and public-private partnerships with a regulatory and tax environment worthy of the 21st century?  Readers of these letters don’t need to be persuaded, but can be the persuaders of those who are resisting. Persistent, ill-informed arguments include: we can’t afford more federal support, when in fact we can’t afford the lack of it; our nation’s tax structure need not be competitive with that of peer nations; or industry can act alone.  Our job is to effectively refute them.

Speaking of Africa, the Africa Summit held here in Washington, D.C., earlier this week provided another sort of attention to that continent, which has a swiftly emerging middle class, the youngest population in the world and which, by 2050, will have a population twice the size of China!  Those who are stuck in the “aid” model for assuring that Africa realizes its potential — including its potential as a market — may not realize that there is a crying need for robust science, technology and STEM education as a component of African development if we expect to see self-sustaining economies.  Read more in a pre-Summit op-ed published in last week’s New York Times. Continue reading →

Posted in: Advocacy Messages, Ask Your Candidates!, Mary Woolley, Mary Woolley Weekly Advocacy Messages, National Institutes of Health, Research Advocacy, Research Investment/Funding, Research!America

Member Spotlight: University of Southern California School of Social Work

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By Marilyn Flynn, dean of USC School of Social Work

FlynnAs one of the nation’s first schools of social work, the USC School of Social Work is widely recognized as a top-tier graduate program that offers rigorous career preparation for academic, policy, and practice leaders and provides an innovative and supportive environment for research on critical social problems.

Researchers at the school are dedicated to exploring the social and behavioral determinants of physical and mental health issues, in addition to translating research findings into real-world strategies to improve the health and well-being of individuals and society. Because medical research is a critical component of this interdisciplinary pursuit, our scientists naturally embrace the mission of Research!America to improve awareness and build public support for research seeking to cure, treat, and prevent physical and mental disorders.

Our Hamovitch Center for Science in the Human Services was the first endowed center for interdisciplinary social work research at any university. A leader in the evidence-based decision-making and practice movement, the center continues to expand with the recruitment of nationally recognized faculty members and newly established research cores and institutes in aging; behavior, health, and society; child development and children’s services; homelessness, housing, and social environment; management, organizations, and policy transformation; military; and serious mental illness. Continue reading →

Posted in: Innovation/Competitiveness, Mental Health Research, Research Advocacy, Research!America | Tagged: , , , ,