Speaker Pelosi, Senator Specter, other luminaries to attend
WASHINGTON—March 24, 2009—Research!America marks its 20th anniversary by welcoming 500 leaders from industry, academia, scientific and health advocacy organizations, government and the media to Research!America's 13th Annual Advocacy Awards ceremony to honor top scientific and health research advocates. The event will take place on the evening of Tuesday, March 24, at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, DC.
Research!America's 2009 Advocacy Award recipients are House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (CA); Senator Arlen Specter (PA); former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, MD, ScD; Nobel Laureate David Baltimore, PhD; Genetic Alliance; Stowers Institute founders James E. Stowers, Jr. and Virginia G. Stowers; and ABC News Anchor Bob Woodruff.
The Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, will receive the Edwin C. Whitehead Award for Medical Research Advocacy for her extraordinary leadership on science-related issues and her steadfast support of research funding, including funding for embryonic stem cell research. Pelosi has been the Speaker of the House of Representatives since 2007 and the representative of California's 8th congressional district since 1987. She was the House Minority Leader from 2003 to 2006 and the House Minority Whip in 2002. She has built an impressive record of accomplishment in science, research and energy legislation.
The award benefactor is the Whitehead Charitable Foundation. Edwin C. Whitehead (1919-1992) worked to further medical research with the founding of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in 1982 and the founding of Research!America in 1989.
The Honorable Arlen Specter, U.S. Senator, Pennsylvania, will receive the Legacy Award for his outspoken advocacy and leadership in achieving significant funding support for medical and health research in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, his staunch support for embryonic stem cell research and many noteworthy contributions as a champion for health research. Specter was first elected to the Senate in 1980 and is the longest serving Senator in Pennsylvania's history. He is a ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee and on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies.
C. Everett Koop, MD, ScD, former U.S. Surgeon General, will be honored with the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Award for Sustained National Leadership for his decades-long commitment to advocacy for public health. Koop is the Elizabeth DeCamp McInerny Professor of Surgery at Dartmouth Medical School. He served two terms as Surgeon General, from 1981 to 1989, becoming the government's chief spokesperson on AIDS at the outset of the HIV/AIDS crisis. He is widely credited for tackling some of the nation's most daunting public health challenges, most notably tobacco addiction and HIV/AIDS.
Award benefactors Beverly and Raymond R. Sackler, MD, are long-standing Research!America supporters. Raymond Sackler is a Research!America emeritus director.
Nobel Laureate David Baltimore, PhD, will be recognized with the Builders of Science Award. The award recognizes his leadership, as founder of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and past-president of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), in building the capabilities, reputations and resources of what are now widely acknowledged as two of the world's top research institutions. He was an early advocate for government-funded research on HIV/AIDS and is a strong advocate for stem cell research.
Genetic Alliance will receive the Paul G. Rogers Distinguished Organization Advocacy Award. Sharon Terry, president and CEO of Genetic Alliance, will accept the award. The award recognizes Genetic Alliance's exemplary advocacy on behalf of people with genetic diseases, and particularly its leadership role in advocacy for the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination
Act of 2008 (GINA). Formed in 1986 as an alliance of genetic support groups, Genetic Alliance has become the world's leading advocacy organization committed to transforming health through genetics. In addition to her role with Genetic Alliance, Sharon Terry is a co-founder of the Genetic Alliance BioBank and PXE International.
Hogan & Hartson LLP is the benefactor of Research!America's award to exemplary organizations. The award was named in 2007 for the former Congressman and renowned advocate for health, The Honorable Paul G. Rogers. Rogers was Research!America's chair emeritus until his death in October 2008.
James E. "Jim" Stowers Jr. and Virginia G. Stowers, co-founders of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, will receive the Gordon and Llura Gund Leadership Award. The award recognizes their leadership and commitment to basic biomedical research in founding, building, and developing the Stowers Institute into a world-class research institution. The Stowers Institute focuses on basic research to find cures for cancer and other gene-based diseases. It has a staff of more than 300 scientists. The Stowers are strong advocates for stem cell research in their home state and across the nation.
Award benefactors Llura and Gordon Gund have been supporters of health research for more than 30 years. In 2006, Gordon Gund received a Research!America Advocacy Award for his role in advancing research for retinal degenerative diseases.
Bob Woodruff, ABC News anchor, will be recognized with the Isadore Rosenfeld Award for Impact on Public Opinion. The award recognizes his achievements in raising awareness about traumatic brain injuries and cognitive rehabilitation research. Woodruff is a renowned reporter, having covered the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, the 2004 Asian tsunami and the Iraq war, among other national and international events. He has reached millions with his continuing coverage of traumatic brain injuries and the lives of the service people returning from Iraq and Afghanistan afflicted with these injuries.
Award benefactor Isadore Rosenfeld, MD, of Weill Cornell Medical Center, is widely recognized as one of the country's preeminent physicians. He is the best-selling author of numerous health-related books, a nationally recognized health news commentator and a Research!America emeritus director.
Research!America is the nation's largest not-for-profit public education and advocacy alliance working to make research to improve health a higher national priority. Now celebrating its 20th anniversary, Research!America is supported by 500 member organizations that represent the voices of 125 million Americans. Its advocacy awards program was established in 1996 to honor outstanding advocates for research. For more information, visit www.researchamerica.org/advocacy_awards.