WASHINGTON—March 13, 2008—About 500 leaders from industry, academia and scientific and health advocacy organizations, government officials and journalists will participate in Research!America's 12th Annual Advocacy Awards Gala to honor top scientific and health research advocates. The gala will take place March 18 at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, DC.
Research!America's 2008 Advocacy Award recipients are amfAR: The Foundation for AIDS Research; William H. Foege, MD, MPH; Pat Furlong; Senator Edward M. Kennedy; Richard A. Lerner, MD; and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research, represented by Mathilde Krim, PhD, founding chairman, will receive the Paul G. Rogers Distinguished Organization Advocacy Award for work to accelerate HIV/AIDS research and to achieve breakthroughs in HIV/AIDS prevention, treatments and a search for a cure. Founded in 1985, amfAR has funded research that has led to an increased understanding of HIV and has helped lay the groundwork for major advances in the study and treatment of HIV/AIDS. The organization has invested $260 million in its programs and has awarded grants to more than 2,000 research teams worldwide. Kenneth Cole serves as chairman.
The award, underwritten by Hogan & Hartson LLP, is named for The Honorable Paul G. Rogers, a former Congressman, renowned advocate for health and Research!America chair emeritus.
William H. Foege, MD, MPH, will be recognized with the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Award for Sustained National Leadership for his lifelong series of accomplishments that have dramatically improved the condition of humanity through research and activism. A former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director, Foege's work has included the successful campaign to eradicate smallpox in the 1970s. He also has championed other public health research issues including childhood immunizations and eradicating Ginuea worm, polio, measles and River Blindness. Currently, he is a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation senior fellow and an emeritus presidential distinguished professor at Emory University Rollins School of Public Health.
Award benefactors are Raymond R. and Beverly Sackler, MD; Dr. Sackler is a Research!America emeritus director.
Pat Furlong will be presented with the Gordon and Llura Gund Leadership Award. Furlong founded Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy in 1994 after losing both of her sons to Duchenne muscular dystrophy. PPMD is the largest non-profit organization in the U.S. solely focused on DMD. Its mission is to improve the treatment, quality of life and long-term outlook for all individuals affected by DMD through research, advocacy, education and compassion.
Furlong is considered one of the foremost authorities on DMD in the world. In addition to her role at PPMD, she is a board member of the Muscular Dystrophy Coordinating Committee, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.
Award benefactors Gordon and Llura Gund have been innovative supporters of health research for more than 30 years. In March 2006, Gordon Gund was honored with a Research!America volunteer leadership advocacy award for his role in advancing research for retinal degenerative diseases.
Senator Edward M. Kennedy (MA) will be honored with the Edwin C. Whitehead Award for Medical Research for his longtime, consistent support of federal policies to advance health research. Kennedy has represented Massachusetts in the U.S. Senate for 43 years. During this time, he has been a steadfast champion for increasing National Institutes of Health funding. In addition, he was the original co-sponsor of the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act and the Mental Health Parity Act of 2007. Kennedy chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
The award benefactor is the Whitehead Charitable Foundation.
Richard A. Lerner, MD, will be presented with the Builders of Science Award. Lerner has served as president of the Scripps Research Institute since 1986. Today, it is one of the largest private non-profit research organizations in the nation. Its sister institute opened in Jupiter, Florida, in 2004. Lerner also is known as one of the world's experts in the field of catalytic antibodies, which is based on understanding the binding energy of proteins and how that energy can be used to facilitate chemical transformations. His scientific research helped lead to the discovery that ozone, a metabolic product of inflammation, may play a role in atherosclerosis and Alzheimer's disease.
Research!America's Builders of Science Award recognizes individuals who have helped establish a research facility or build the credentials and reputation of an existing institution.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (CA) will be recognized with the Isadore Rosenfeld Award for Impact on Public Opinion for his demonstrated commitment to cutting-edge medical and health research to potentially benefit all Americans, and for his leadership to provide better health care for all Californians. The Governor endorsed and personally campaigned for Proposition 71, an initiative to fund stem cell research in California at a time when the federal government was restricting this research. In 2004, this proposition enabled the establishment of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine with an authorization of up to $3 billion over 10 years. Schwarzenegger also has invested heavily in rebuilding the state healthcare system, increasing overall spending by nearly $8 billion.
The Rosenfeld Heart Foundation, Inc. is the award benefactor; Isadore Rosenfeld, MD, a pre-eminent physician and PARADE magazine contributor, is also a Research!America emeritus director.
Research!America is the nation's largest 501(c)(3) public education and advocacy alliance working to make research to improve health a higher national priority. Its advocacy awards program was established in 1996 to honor outstanding advocates for research. For more information, visit www.researchamerica.org/advocacy_awards.
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