The Research Advocate September 2010

In This Issue of The Research Advocate

Stem Cell Research on Hold

An August 23 ruling from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has blocked the federal government from implementing NIH guidelines for research involving human embryonic stem cells. While the ruling’s full implications are not yet clear, individual organizations are charting their own path. According to Science Magazine’s ScienceInsider blog, Harvard University told its researchers to continue as they have until — and if — NIH informs them otherwise. But George Q. Daley, MD, PhD, of Harvard’s Stem Cell Institute, asked his lab workers to separate any stem cell research from materials purchased with NIH money.
At press time, a White House spokesman told the Associated Press that the administration was considering all options “to make sure that we can continue to do this critical, life-saving research.”
Speaking with reporters, Research!America called the decision disappointing but joined the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research in expressing confidence that federal funding for embryonic stem cell research would be upheld.
The 2010 World Stem Cell Summit (October 4-6, Detroit) will devote program content and networking opportunities to increased advocacy for embryonic stem cell research. Research!America President and CEO Mary Woolley will be a speaker, and Research!America is an endorsing organization. Visit www.worldstemcellsummit.org and www.researchamerica.org for resources and poll data on stem cell research.

Research Funding Remains Uncertain as End of Fiscal Year Approaches

When Congress returns from recess this month, members must either complete work on the appropriations bills that include funding for research or pass a continuing resolution before the start of FY2011 on October 1; the latter scenario is more likely. In the Senate, the full Appropriations Committee has approved research funding levels for FY2011, while the subcommittees have completed their work in the House of Representatives.
In the current House and Senate bills, the National Institutes of Health budget would increase 3.2% to $32 billion in FY2011 as recommended by President Barack Obama. For the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the House approved $6.8 billion and the Senate approved $6.9 billion, both higher than the president’s recommendation of $6.6 billion. Although Obama proposed $611 million for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, a 53.9% increase, the Senate approved $397 million and the House approved $411 million for AHRQ. The House supported Obama’s proposal to keep the National Science Foundation on a budget doubling track by approving $7.42 billion for the agency, an 8.0% increase, but the Senate came in slightly lower at $7.35 billion.
Research has fared better than many other funding areas, but advocates must remain active given the current emphasis on deficit reduction. The Senate is expected to decrease the total discretionary funding spending cap to $1.108 trillion, which the Senate Appropriations Committee already decreased earlier this summer. In comparison, the House-approved cap is $1.121 trillion. An overall reduction could result in lower funding levels for research, since the House and Senate must ultimately agree on the final appropriations levels. For updates on funding, visit www.researchamerica.org/advocacy.

Hill Event Celebrates NCMHD Elevation

Several organizations, including Research!America, sponsored an event on Capitol Hill celebrating the elevation of the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities to an institute at the National Institutes of Health.
Former Health and Human Services Secretary Louis W. Sullivan, MD, served as the master of ceremonies and spoke of the contributions of Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA). Eve J. Higginbotham, MD, of Howard University, commended the work of Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD). Henry Foster, MD, of Meharry Medical College, praised Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL) for his efforts. John E. Maupin Jr., DDS, of the Morehouse School of Medicine, described the role of Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), and Keith Norris, MD, of Charles Drew University, commended Del. Donna Christensen (D-USVI), MD, for her role. John Ruffin, PhD, director of NCMHD, thanked those who fought for the creation of the new institute.

2011 Advocacy Awards Recipients Named

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg; inventor and physicist Dean Kamen; Nobel Laureate J. Michael Bishop, MD, and the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center have been named recipients of Research!America’s 2011 Advocacy Awards.
The Advocacy Awards event will take place Tuesday, March 15, at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, DC.
Bloomberg will be honored with the Gordon and Llura Gund Leadership Award for his contributions to public health and research. In addition to banning smoking in New York City bars and restaurants, which inspired other cities and countries to do likewise, he led successful efforts to ban trans-fats from restaurants, require chain restaurants to post calorie information on menus and reduce salt in packaged foods. He worked to improve preventive care and access to healthy foods in the city. Through these efforts and his success in reducing crime, life expectancy increased by 19 months during his tenure.
Kamen will receive the Builders of Science Award. A self-taught physicist, Kamen invented and developed breakthrough medical devices to help people lead better lives, including the automatic ambulatory pump, HomeChoice portable dialysis machine and iBOT Mobility System, as well as the Segway.
Bishop will be recognized with the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Award for Sustained National Leadership. As the chancellor of the University of California, San Francisco, he shares many awards with colleague Harold Varmus, MD. Together they received the 1989 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering proto-oncogenes, normal genes that can be converted to cancer genes by genetic damage.
The Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center (DVBIC) will be honored with the Paul G. Rogers Distinguished Organization Advocacy Award for its pioneering research on traumatic brain injuries (TBIs). A major focus of the DVBIC research program is to evaluate the quality, timeliness and cost-effectiveness of TBI treatments.
For more details about the event, visit www.researchamerica.org/advocacy_awards.

Your Candidates-Your Health Update

Our voter education initiative, Your Candidates–Your Health, continues to collect responses ahead of November’s midterm elections. So far, we have received responses from 25 states. As the remaining primaries take place in the coming weeks, we will invite candidates in those states to participate and post their responses. Join us in calling on all congressional candidates to participate. Visit www.yourcandidatesyourhealth.org see whether your state’s and district’s candidates have responded and to urge them to do so or to thank them for their responses.

New Fact Sheet Details Impact of Vaccinations

Research!America has released a new fact sheet on the health and economic impact of vaccinations; see this month’s insert. While it is estimated that vaccines prevent at least 3 million deaths worldwide each year, more than 50,000 Americans die annually from vaccine-preventable disease. Breakthroughs in smallpox and polio highlight past successes in vaccine research, but developing immunizations against HIV, lung cancer and certain dangerous flu strains would save even more lives and money. To improve the health of Americans and people worldwide, the U.S. must continue to increase investment in vaccine research.

Member Spotlight: University of Maryland School of Medicine

At the University of Maryland School of Medicine, more than 50 percent of the students conduct research at the Baltimore-based school. The school employs more than 5,000 people as faculty or staff and hosts nearly 300 research fellows from around the world.
The University of Maryland School of Medicine, in addition to its 25 traditional clinical and research departments, has seven research programs, seven research centers and two research institutes, each focusing on a specialty area.
E. Albert Reece, MD, PhD, MBA, the University of Maryland’s vice president for medical affairs and dean of the school of medicine, said it’s not enough for these research enterprises to exist as separate academic units. He believes they must be run as part of a larger research vision and in a collaborative manner to the fullest extent possible.
“These research enterprises are configured to make an impact on human health in the not-too-distant future,” Reece said. “However, research and discovery cannot be accomplished in a vacuum. It must be coordinated via proactive management of these research enterprises to ensure that they complement one another and so that they share knowledge and resources effectively and efficiently.”
Enterprise management of the University of Maryland School of Medicine’s research units is overseen by the school’s executive vice dean, Bruce E. Jarrell, MD. Jarrell directs several associate deans, whose duties involve coordinating basic, interdisciplinary, clinical and translational research at the school.
Founded in 1807, the University of Maryland School of Medicine is the oldest public medical school (and fifth oldest overall) in the country. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, the University of Maryland ranks sixth among the 76 public medical schools in the U.S. and 18th among all 132 U.S. medical schools in research grant and contract expenditures. In 2009, the University of Maryland’s grants and contracts totaled $425.8 million, a 150% increase in less than a decade.
Visit medschool.umaryland.edu.

Research!America Adds Value for its Members

Research!America works for strong, increased investment in our nation’s federal research agencies, including the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Science Foundation and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The Society for Neuroscience, a Research!America member, has described us as “the leading coalition aiming to make medical research a higher national priority.”
We are regularly sought out by key media and are the “go-to” source for information on research advocacy and policy. Research!America has been recognized for our leadership and called the “clearest voice clamoring for increased funding at government life science agencies” by The Scientist.
Research!America is pioneering outreach to the next generation of medical and scientific leadership by offering training and encouraging involvement in advocacy and public service through New Voices for Research. Join in at newvoicesforresearch.blogspot.com.

President's Message

The upcoming election is critically important for a number of high-priority national issues. Research!America’s members agree that research for health is among those priorities, and our polls show that the public agrees. Do the candidates? They will if they hear from more constituents that support for research is a winning issue for the
nation’s economy as well as for our health. Few candidates are speaking out in support for research, either for improved policy direction — stem cell research included — or stronger appropriations. We cannot expect candidates who are not talking about research as they appeal to voters to make research a priority when elected.
Candidates willingly pay attention to poll data, but only if it is brought to their attention. Research!America’s August 2010 opinion polls demonstrate that research continues to be a priority for the American public. Aligning with research is a winning move for those seeking public office, but polls will not speak for themselves — public support needs a human face and credible spokespersons to be heard by media and candidates. Few voices are more credible with the public than those associated with research for health. It’s time to leverage that credibility!
Research!America can help: Our award-winning voter education initiative, at www.yourcandidatesyourhealth.org, makes it easy to reach out to candidates electronically and to ask those in your networks to do the same. It’s a quick way to make a difference for research in this election year. There’s no substitute for personal engagement now.

Media Matters

Francis Collins' First Year in Office

Nature looked at the accomplishments of Francis S. Collins, MD, PhD, during his first year as National Institutes of Health director. Writer Meredith Wadman wrote that Collins’ exceptional communication skills have earned him significant attention from the research community and the public.

The Next Generation of Innovation

CQ Weekly published an article about the declining pace of U.S. technological and scientific innovation and the role government can play to foster U.S. innovation. The article cites examples of successful public-private partnerships, like the tax credit for research and development created under former President Ronald Reagan and the House reauthorization of the America COMPETES Act earlier this year.

Eugene Garfield, Grandfather of Google?

Eugene Garfield, PhD, president and founding editor of The Scientist and a Research!America emeritus director, may be considered the grandfather of Google, according to the University of Iowa Hardin Library for the Health Sciences’ HardinMD blog. The blog explains that Garfield’s Science Citation Index allows users to establish which research papers cite which earlier research papers — the basic principle of the Google search engine.

The Scientist Cites Research!America's Economic Data

In an article about the 40 best places to work in academia in 2010, The Scientist says Michigan has become a top location for research and has three research universities in the top 40 list: the Van Andel Institute, Michigan State University and Wayne State University. The article also cites data from Research!America’s investment in research data online, which says Michigan received $1.1 billion in federal research funds in 2009.

Kaiser Health News Publishes Op-ed by PGR Ambassadors

Paul G. Rogers Society for Global Health Research Ambassadors Michele Barry, MD, professor of medicine and public health at Yale University School of Medicine, and Linda Aiken, PhD, RN, director of the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, co-authored an op-ed in Kaiser Health News about breakthroughs in global health research that have also improved the Americans’ health and the U.S. health care system.

More Coverage of our Research Enterprise Poll

The Research Enterprise Poll commissioned by Research!America and Eli Lilly and Company continues to receive coverage. The Gene Sherpas blog highlights that 72% of Americans are confident in FDA’s system for reviewing medicines and medical devices. The Policy and Medicine blog cites the poll’s finding that 94% of Americans think government, industry and universities should work together to develop new treatments and cures.

Special Thanks to New and Renewing Research!America Alliance Members

NEW MEMBERS
Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce
NorTech
RENEWING MEMBERS
American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy
American Heart Association
Arizona State University College of Nursing & Health Innovation
Association of American Cancer Institutes
Association of Schools of Public Health
Battelle
Baylor College of Medicine
The Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University
Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine
Elsevier
Georgetown University Medical Center
Infectious Diseases Society of America
Intercultural Cancer Council Caucus
Institute for the Advancement of Multicultural and Minority Medicine
The Leukemia and Lyphoma Society
Lymphatic Research Foundation
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
McLaughlin Research Institute
National Alliance for Hispanic Health
Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy
Parkinson’s Action Network
Rice University
Steven A. Schroeder Institute for Tobacco Research and Policy Studies
University of California, San Francisco
University of Nebraska Medical Center
University of North Carolina Gillings School of Public Health
The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas
Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research

Not yet a member? Join Research!America today at www.researchamerica.org/become_member.

Download the entire September 2010 Research Advocate as a PDF.

Research! America

Polls & Publications

The Research Advocate September 2010

In This Issue of The Research Advocate

From Washington

From Research!America

Regular Features

In the News