In This Issue
From Capitol Hill
From Research!America
Baltimore to Receive 2009 Builders of Science Award
Renewed Gates Foundation Support, Nominate a Rogers Society Ambassador
Presidential Candidates Share Their Views on Research
Statement Sent to Party Platform Committees
In the News
Regular Features
President's Message
Member Spotlight: University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine
Policy Update
Congressional Champions Take Action
With less than a month to go before the end of the fiscal year, Congress is not expected to pass any more appropriations bills. However, champions of research are applying other strategies to support research to improve health.
Sens. Arlen Specter (PA) and Tom Harkin (IA), ranking member and chair of the Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Subcommittee, introduced the NIH Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Bill to provide an additional $5.2 billion for the National Institutes of Health in FY08. Specter called current funding for NIH "grossly insufficient" and urged Congress to do something about "this scandalous situation." The bill is intended to restore the NIH's purchasing power.
NIH Director Elias A. Zerhouni, MD, said additional funding would "protect the next generation of scientists, invest in more integrated science and collaboration, and encourage innovation."
Harkin insisted that Congress support scientists "as they search for treatments and cures that could provide hope to millions of Americans."
The Senate is also working on a supplemental appropriations bill to follow the first supplemental, which included $150 million for NIH and was signed into law in June.
Harkin, as chair of the LHHS Appropriations Subcommittee, proposed a $500 million increase in NIH funding for 2008 to be included in the second supplemental bill.
NIH Advocacy Update
After returning from their August recess, Congress is expected to pass a continuing resolution to keep the government running into 2009. Advocates are calling on Congress to support increased funding for health research.
Research!America signed on to a letter from the Coalition for Health Funding calling on Congress to provide the highest funding levels for each public health agency in the CR. To sign on, visit http://www.sign-chf.org/.
CPH Revamps ‘Rain' Ad
In addition to several Hill meetings in August, Campaign for Public Health staff began the complex process of launching six new variations of its 2007 advertisement featuring a family under an umbrella while words rain down on them; the words describe public health threats from which the CDC protects us. The new ads will have the same look, but the headings and rain words will reflect specific areas of focus within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
CPH also published its 2007 Annual Report in August, available at www.FundCDC.org.
Baltimore To Receive 2009 Builders of Science Award
David Baltimore, PhD, will be the recipient of Research!America's Builders of Science Award at the 2009 Advocacy Awards Gala on March 24 at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium.
This award recognizes leaders in medical and health research who either worked to establish a research facility or substantially revitalized an existing institution. Baltimore has done both: founding the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and serving as president of the California Institute of Technology.
In 1980, Jack Whitehead (who cofounded Research!America) approached Baltimore, the 1975 Nobel Prize winner for Physiology or Medicine, about creating an innovative institution focused on basic research.
"He offered me the opportunity to start a small research institute, which he would fund," Baltimore writes. Small indeed. The Whitehead Institute is now one of the world's premier research facilities.
After serving in various posts including president of the Rockefeller University and American Association for the Advancement of Science, Baltimore took a post at Caltech. As president from 1997 to 2006, he helped raise more than a billion dollars for research and facilities in addition to providing exceptional leadership.
Baltimore continues his dynamic health research today as the Robert Andrews Millikan Professor of Biology at Caltech. His vision, leadership and longterm dedication have enhanced the scientific community and helped develop multiple first-class research facilities.
Past winners of the Builders of Science Award include Richard A. Lerner, MD, of The Scripps Research Institute and Donald W. Seldin, MD; Michael S. Brown, MD; and Joseph L. Goldstein, MD, of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.
For more information about the 2009 Advocacy Awards Gala, including award and event sponsors, visit www.researchamerica.org/advocacy_awards.
Renewed Gates Foundation Support,
Nominate a Rogers Society Ambassador
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded Research!America's Paul G. Rogers Society for Global Health Research an additional $1.4 million. This ongoing support will enable us to continue to build and engage our national network of global health research advocates known as Ambassadors.
Nominations are being accepted now for the next group of 25 Ambassadors. In strategic consultation with Research!America, these leading researchers will meet with policymakers and the media to personalize the value and importance of global health research to the U.S. and to their home states.
We need champions for global health research. Visit www.researchamerica.org/08pgrnominations for information on nominating an outstanding citizen-scientist as Ambassador in the Rogers Society. Nominations close September 15, 2008.
Presidential Candidates Share Their Views on Research
Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain recently shared his stances on health, science and research in Your Candidates-Your Health. He joins Democratic candidate Sen. Barack Obama, who responded earlier.
Nearly 200 congressional candidates have also declared their positions through the online voter education initiative, and others are being invited as their state primaries take place. To view responses, visit www.yourcandidatesyourhealth.org.
From now until the election, Your Candidates-Your Health will be promoted on PARADE.com, reaching millions of Americans. Also, the initiative is being advertised in The Hill newspaper during the Democratic and Republican national conventions.
Many of the more than 45 partner organizations are promoting the initiative, including American Heart Association, American Public Health Association, Association of American Medical Colleges, Association of Schools of Public Health, FasterCures, Muscular Dystrophy Association, National Alliance for Hispanic Health and Society for Neuroscience.
In other election news, ScienceDebate2008 is asking the presidential candidates to answer 14 questions about science, research and innovation at www.sciencedebate2008.com, and in a national debate. Scientists and Engineers for America is similarly asking congressional candidates to answer seven questions at www.sharp.sefora.org.
After the election, join Research!America and our partners in Washington for a post-election conversation about how best to leverage the results of Your Candidates-Your Health 2008 in what will be a new political environment. See our Web site for details.
Statement Sent to Party Platform Committees
Research!America's Chair The Honorable John Edward Porter and President Mary Woolley submitted a statement about the importance of research to the Democratic and Republican Party Platform Drafting Committees in July.
Take action by sending a letter with the same or a similar message to the parties. You can find contact information and the statement at www.researchamerica.org/party_platform_2008. Use these statements in your interactions with your congressional members and candidates.
Media Matters
ScienceBlogs Achieves Record Growth
ScienceBlogs, the nation's largest online science community, announced that its readership has topped 14 million people in the past six months, an unprecedented increase. ScienceBlogs consists of 90 blogs in the U.S. and around the world that focus on science and technology issues.
Investing in Global Health Research
The Lansing State Journal (Michigan) published an op-ed by Paul G. Rogers Society for Global Health Research Ambassador Gretchen Birbeck, MD, MPH, DTMH. Birbeck explained that the epidemics that affect other countries could spread to the U.S. - just one more reason it is important to invest in research for global health.
In Monitoring Financial Flows for Health Research 2007, published by the Global Forum for Health Research, Research!America's Mary Woolley, Stacie Propst, PhD, and Emily Connelly explain that "While the vast majority of Americans (97%) think it's important for the U.S. to be a global leader in scientific research, 65% believe that the U.S. is losing its global competitive edge in innovation."
Your Candidates-Your Health in the News
Research!America's Your Candidates-Your Health 2008 initiative received front page coverage in the August issue of The Nation's Health newspaper, published by the American Public Health Association. Michele Late, executive editor, wrote about health care reform and the important role research plays in improving our health care system. She quoted Mary Woolley, "I encourage health professionals to call the campaigns of candidates and offer to serve on their health advisory committees, and to offer to help create one if none exists."
The voter education initiative also received coverage in Chicago Life Magazine's fall 2008 issue. The article "Red, White, and Budget Cuts: How Politics are Tied to Biomedical Research" discusses the connection between federal and private funding for research. It encourages readers to find out where their candidates stand on research and to become advocates. Additional media coverage includes The Lancet (online), the Chronicle of Philanthropy's Campaign 2008 Web site, several political blogs, congressional candidates' blogs and Research!America partner publications the AAMC Reporter, the Neuroscience Quarterly, the Neuroscience Nexus, the ASPH Friday Letter, FasterCures Smart Brief, the American Heart Association's Advocacy Pulse and Volunteer Advocate e-newsletters and the Oral Health America e-newsletter.
PARADE.com is running ads about Your Candidates-Your Health through Election Day. The ads are featured on the site's home page and Intelligence Report and Money sections. An ad appeared in The Hill newspaper issues published during the Democratic and Republican conventions.
How to Become a Better Voter
In a recent issue, PARADE magazine featured "How to Be A Better Voter," an article by George Stephanopoulos, host of ABC News "This Week" and former White House adviser. Stephanopoulos highlights a few steps to becoming an informed voter, from knowing what matters to you to balancing out a candidate's experience and what his or her positions are.
President's Message
It is just two months until the election-do you know where your candidates stand on research? Have you engaged with those running for Congress in your area and weighed in with the presidential campaigns? Along with our 40+ partners, we urge you to consult, promulgate and act on what you learn via our voter education initiative, www.yourcandidatesyourhealth.org.
After the election, join us in Washington for a de-briefing and forward-planning session on November 11. Regardless of who wins, there will be many new leadership roles to fill, and a new Administration and new Congress will be determining top priorities. It is critical that the research stakeholder community be organized and ready to engage.
Research underpins Americans' top concerns-health certainly, but also the economy. Over the next months, we will be emphasizing how research is critical to continued success as a nation.
One is the economic impact, or "pay off," of research. We will honor the seventh recipient of our Eugene Garfield Economic Impact of Medical and Health Research Award at the Newseum in Washington, DC, on October 14.
Research also intersects with the cost of health care. The more we hear about the broken health care system, with pain to our nation's wallet and our personal health, the more determined we are to connect the dots between investing in research and making health care systems smart. The smarter we make health care, the more cost-effective and affordable it will be. Getting smarter means putting research to work.
Member Spotlight: University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine
At the University of Chicago, in an atmosphere of interdisciplinary scholarship and discovery, the Pritzker School of Medicine is dedicated to inspiring diverse students of exceptional promise to become leaders and innovators in science and medicine for the betterment of humanity.
The Pritzker School of Medicine, ranked 16th in the 2008 U.S. News & World Report "Best Graduate Schools" issue, continuously earns the distinction of being one of the world's preeminent research facilities not only by increasing funding and recruiting some of the world's best researchers but also by creating countless opportunities for interdisciplinary work.
At the University of Chicago Medical Center, there is a unique and extraordinary structure that fosters close collaboration and tight integration between students, clinicians and researchers, and between the sciences.
"Scientific discovery is advancing more rapidly than ever, especially at the interface between the biological sciences and the physical and social sciences," said James L. Madara, MD, CEO of the medical center, university vice president for Medical Affairs, and dean, Division of the Biological Sciences and Pritzker School of Medicine. "From the neurosciences to genetics to cancer biology, important and far-reaching discoveries are changing the face of medicine."
Madara said the university's research extends from the basic biology of disease to the bedside and into the community. The research that keeps the University of Chicago at the forefront of medicine is translated into needed care every day across the south side of Chicago.
"Under the leadership of Michelle Obama, we have created a unique collaboration with 19 local healthcare centers so our world class medical expertise becomes patient care where it is needed, when it is needed," Madara said. Obama, the wife of presidential candidate Barack Obama, is on unpaid leave from her position as vice president for community and external affairs at the medical center.
"Tomorrow's exceptional patient care must be fueled by today's research," Madara said. "And the University of Chicago has some of the world's finest researchers."
The university ranks fifth in the country in National Institutes of Health funding/per faculty member, first in the number of Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigators per capita and fifth in the number of National Academy of Sciences members per capita. HHMI is also a Research!America member.
Truly original inquiry leads to fundamental discoveries, Madara noted. The medical school has produced a plethora of such discoveries, generated by a relatively small faculty when compared to other academic medical centers. The school places a premium on excellence, not size.
The University of Chicago Medical Center is a supporting partner in Research!America's voter education initiative, Your Candidates-Your Health, and is a benefactor of our Eugene Garfield Economic Impact of Health and Medical Research Award that will be presented at the Newseum in Washington, DC, in October.
"Anything that shines a spotlight on this award and the vital link between healthcare and research has our total support," Madara said. "It opens up new opportunities for scientific imagination and collaboration."
For more information, visit http://pritzker.bsd.uchicago.edu/.
Research!America members can download the entire September Research Advocate
using their member log in. E-mail kfuller@researchamerica.org if you need your log-in information.