In this Issue
From Washington
Limited Increases for Research to Improve Health in President's Budget
CDC Advocacy Highlights
AHRQ and Ad Council Encourage Questions
From Research!America
Research!America and amfAR Host Capitol Hill Conference on HIV/AIDS Research
Holt Addresses Hill Audience: 'Research is Critical'
Timely Advocacy on H1N1
Rock Stars of Science Campaign
Your Congress-Your Health for the 111th Congress
Research!America is Your Partner in Advocacy
In the News
Regular Features
President's Message
Member Spotlight: The Greater Oklahoma City Chamber
Limited Increases for Research to Improve Health in President's Budget
Funding for research to improve health did not fare all that well in President Obama's FY2010 budget proposal, the details of which were released May 7. The recommended level for the National Institutes of Health is $30.8 billion, a 1.5% increase over FY09. The increase for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is minimal at $29 million, and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality would be flat-funded at $372 million. However, the budget for the National Science Foundation would grow by 8.5% to $7.0 billion.
Research!America issued a statement expressing concern over the president's proposed funding levels for research.
In this transition year, Congress passed the Budget Resolution before the details of the president's budget were known. At the end of April, Congress agreed to $1.086 trillion in new, non-defense discretionary spending in FY2010. Congress will now begin the appropriations process to determine the funding levels for NIH, CDC, AHRQ and NSF. Congress has the authority to raise the funding levels. Advocates must speak out for robust research funding during this process.
Obama and the Senate also have been putting federal health leadership in place. On April 28, Kathleen Sebelius was confirmed by the Senate and sworn in as the Secretary of Health and Human Services. As of press time, Margaret Hamburg, MD, had been approved by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions to be the next commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. President Obama also had selected Thomas Frieden, MD, MPH, to be the next CDC director.
CDC Advocacy Highlights
The Campaign for Public Health and its sister organization, The CPH Foundation, announce that J. Brent Pawlecki, MD, the corporate medical director of Pitney Bowes, recently joined the board of both groups. See www.cphfoundation.org.
CPH's four public health issue-specific ads continued to run in Washington's Metro trains in April and May. A related series of four fliers was developed in partnership with 23 organizations; 3,000 were delivered to House and Senate offices in May.
The CPH Foundation is working in partnership with CDC and Atlanta's CDC Foundation to plan a late summer tour for senior leaders of our nation's voluntary health organizations. Other tours for members of Congress and their staff are also being planned.
AHRQ and Ad Council Encourage Questions
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, in partnership with the Ad Council, is launching a new series of public service advertisements. The nationwide campaign encourages consumers to ask more questions of their doctor or other clinicians. See www.ahrq.gov/questionsaretheanswer.
Research!America and amfAR Host Capitol Hill Conference on HIV/AIDS Research
Research!America and amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, called for the development of a comprehensive National AIDS Strategy that includes increased research funding at the Capitol Hill conference "Future Directions in the Fight Against HIV/AIDS" on May 13.
Research!America and amfAR called on Congress to fund more than President Obama's budget proposes for research to ensure patients and their families receive the benefits of research sooner rather than later.
Research!America President Mary Woolley said, "We cannot win the fight against HIV/AIDS without research."
Just before sitting down for a conversation with senior NPR news analyst Ted Koppel, former NBA great and HIV/AIDS advocate Earvin "Magic" Johnson gave the day's keynote.
"We have overseas right here in urban America," Johnson said. "We have a problem with African-Americans and [their participation in] clinical trials. We need more African-Americans to participate in clinical trials. Trust me, they want to participate."
Others joined in the call.
"[Spending on] health is not a drain on economies but an investment in infrastructure, economic well-being and social justice," said Michel Kazatchkine, MD, executive director, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
Designer Kenneth Cole, amfAR chairman, agreed, "If anyone is infected we are all affected."
Kevin Frost, amfAR CEO, said, "We must increase funding for all medical research including HIV/AIDS funding."
Jeffrey Crowley, MPH, director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy, said, "Obama's priorities [for HIV/AIDS] are to reduce incidence, get people into care and reduce health disparities."
In addressing the disproportionate impact of HIV/AIDS on African- Americans, Paul G. Rogers Society for Global Health Research Ambassador James E.K. Hildreth, PhD, MD, said, "Empowering ... black communities to become messengers of science and prevention messages is very important."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (CA), who with Johnson and Sen. Ted Kennedy (MA) received amfAR's Award of Courage, added, "We'll have a healthier America if we make prevention a priority."
Woolley summarized the day's messages in four words: "Research works. Advocacy works." See www.researchamerica.org/AIDSconf_09may13 for more.
Holt Addresses Hill Audience: ‘Research is Critical'
"Carry this message back to your offices: investment in research is critical to all the work we do, not just in the purview of the science committee," Rep. Rush Holt (NJ), Congressional R&D Caucus chair, told Congressional staffers at the May 5 Research!America and PATH Capitol Hill briefing "Global Health IS America's Health: Why Global Health Research is Good for the U.S. Economy."
Illustrations of the direct and indirect economic impact to the U.S. were provided by two Paul G. Rogers Society for Global Health Research Ambassadors, Jo Ivey Boufford, MD, of The New York Academy of Medicine, and Richard Love, MD, of The Ohio State University College of Medicine. Michael Johnson, MD, of the Fogarty International Center at NIH, also spoke at the briefing.
Timely Advocacy on H1N1
Ambassadors in Research!America's Paul G. Rogers Society for Global Health Research have been speaking out about the H1N1 virus, or swine flu.
"We need research that better understands how diseases can be transmitted from animals to humans" Lee Reichman, MD, MPH, New Jersey Medical School, wrote in the Newark Star-Ledger.
RAND's Melinda Moore, MD, MPH, wrote in The Baltimore Sun, "In the rush of constant news updates on swine flu, we must recognize that controlling the spread of this disease is not simply a health concern but also one of national security. And in today's globalized world, the spread of swine flu has become not just a U.S. national security threat but every country's national security threat." The editorial was reprinted on VeteransToday.com.
Yale's Michael Cappello, MD, was quoted in the Connecticut Post, "If there is a big picture lesson, it's that this is a great example of how ineffective national borders are at preventing the spread of disease. ... As long as I've been in infectious disease research, I've never met a parasite with an ideology."
In addition to media outreach, Barry Beaty, PhD, of Colorado State University, met with Sen. Mark Udall's (CO) staff as media reports around H1N1 were breaking. Beatty extended an invitation to Udall to visit his lab, which he did that weekend.
In The Denver Post, Udall said, "In the long run, Colorado, because of this leading position we have, will see additional jobs created. Although humans fight among themselves, ... it's still microbes that rule the world. A key part of our national security will be having a strong public health system."
For more information on Research!America's global health research advocacy efforts, visit www.researchamerica.org/pgr_society.
Rock Stars of Science Campaign
Geoffrey Beene Gives Back and GQ Magazine are launching Rock Stars of Science, a public service campaign bringing rock stars together with some of the nation's leading medical researchers to advocate for greater research funding. A six-page sponsored photo spread appears in the magazine's June issue. Launching June 1, www.rockstarsofscience.org will profile the rock star scientists and allow visitors to sign a declaration calling for more science research funding.
Your Congress-Your Health for 111th Congress
In the coming weeks, Research!America and our partners will launch Your Congress-Your Health for the 111th Congress and invite all members of Congress to share where they stand on medical, health and scientific research and other health-related issues. Once launched, you can find out where Representatives and Senators stand on these issues at www.yourcongressyourhealth.org.
Research!America is Your Partner in Advocacy
Research!America adds value for our members in many ways, including having led the charge for research funding in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and keeping research top-of-mind for policy makers and others. See this month's insert 
for more.
Media Matters
What Happens After the Stimulus?
Scientists and science advocates are starting to see the benefits of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). Research!America President Mary Woolley told the Triangle Business Journal (Raleigh/Durham, NC) that funding for research included in ARRA would give a significant boost to North Carolina's economy because private industry spending tends to follow government research spending.
Looking ahead at the FY2010 budget and beyond, Stacie Propst, PhD, vice president of policy and outreach at Research!America, told Nature Medicine the stimulus bill may be a predictor of where we're headed. She told Publico newspaper (Madrid, Spain) the next battle will be to ensure the National Institutes of Health budget is increased by 10% in FY2010. Propst explained to The Scientist and Science News that consistent and growing investment in NIH is necessary. As Woolley told Nature Medicine, "Research!America is doing its best to make sure that we do not get back in the crisis mode."
Science in the Public Agenda
Ralph J. Cicerone, PhD, president of the National Academy of Sciences, wrote an editorial in Science magazine in which he cited The Hon. John Edward Porter, chair, Research!America, on scientists' responsibility to put science into the public eye.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (CA) and Sen. Arlen Specter's (PA) remarks from Research!America's annual Advocacy Awards dinner on the importance of science to the nation, were featured in Science and the magazine's blog ScienceInsider.
Marine ecologist Jane Lubchenco, PhD, recently confirmed as the administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, was featured in The New York Times. Lubchenco urges scientists to spend more time engaging with the public and public officials about scientific and technical issues.
Science Debate 2008: A Retrospective
Shawn Lawrence Otto, co-founder and CEO of Science Debate 2008, and Sheril Kirshenbaum, marine biologist at Duke University, science journalist and Science Debate 2008 co-founder, wrote an article in Issues in Science & Technology, published by the National Academy of Sciences. The article looks at the impact of Science Debate 2008 and recalls the public opinion poll fielded and released with Research!America.
TB: Stopping a Killer
Carole Mitnick, ScD, assistant professor in global health and social medicine at Harvard Medical School and an Ambassador in Research!America's Paul G. Rogers Society for Global Health Research, wrote an op-ed in The Baltimore Sun about the TB epidemic. She warns, "The silent spread of multidrug-resistant TB is a global health threat that is probably more disturbing than most assume."
The Animal Research Minute
The Animal Research Minute is a daily radio editorial by the Foundation for Biomedical Research broadcast to 3,500 stations. Visit www.fbresearch.org to listen and learn more. FBR is a Research!America member.
President's Message
On his 98th day in office, President Obama delivered a compelling address to the National Academy of Sciences, calling for commitment of at least a 3% share of GDP to research and development (that share is now 2.6%, a lesser percentage than that devoted by a number of other nations). The 3% goal was last articulated in 1993 by the Clinton- Gore Administration as it forecast increased global competitiveness by nations determined to emulate how the U.S. put science to work to stimulate economic growth for decades. But the 1993 call was ignored in the midst of economic booms driven by unsound fundamentals (think real estate, banking and finance bubbles). Today, however, with the competitiveness forecast a reality and the economy in dire straits, there is renewed determination to return science to its "rightful place" (the president's phrase in his Inaugural Address) as the time-tested foundation of a knowledge- based economy and the driver of policy-making to achieve health, education and energy goals. For all these reasons it is critical that as Congress considers appropriations legislation and health reform, it prioritize and regularize support for research.
To help our members make the case, Research!America will soon launch the newest version of Your Congress-Your Health, providing access to members of Congress' responses to timely questions about health and research for health. The 111th Congress version of this popular online educational tool has a number of new features, including where members' states stand in America's Health Rankings and easy ways to share members' responses on social networks.
Member Spotlight: The Greater Oklahoma City Chamber
The Greater Oklahoma City Chamber is the voice of business and the visionary organization in Oklahoma City. Its goals are to create a business climate that attracts new businesses and enhances growth and expansion opportunities for existing businesses, create a community with an irresistible quality of life and create value-added membership opportunities and benefits.
Local chambers of commerce are joining Research!America to contribute to the national dialogue about the need to increase our nation's investment in research. One such member is the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber.
"We are just now starting to tap into the resources that Research!America provides," said Josh O'Brien, senior business development manager for biosciences in the Chamber's economic development division. "Much of our research focus to date has been at the state level, but we are starting to work more with our federal delegation to increase support. We also work with our research partners to assist in targeted, individual efforts."
One of those efforts began about four years ago when the Chamber funded a regional strategic plan for biosciences with Battelle Technology Partnership Practice. One of the biggest successes from this plan was the Economic Development Generating Excellence project, a state endowment for research and commercialization.
Another important research resource the Chamber supports is the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology. This state agency awards grants for applied research, health research and plant science research, O'Brien said.
"Oklahoma has made a lot of progress in federal research program through the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR)," O'Brien said. "We know we need more scientists and funding to achieve our goals and become a bigger player."
See www.okcchamber.com for more information.
Research!America members can download the entire May-June 2009 Research Advocate using their member log in. E-mail kfuller@researchamerica.org if you need your log-in information.