Today, many Americans know behaviors, like smoking cigarettes and eating a high fat diet, are significant risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD). But for researchers in the 1940s, who were seeing 1 in 2 Americans die from CVD, this knowledge would have been revolutionary. They were facing an epidemic, and had no way to stop it – until the Framingham Heart Study. Celebrating its 70 th anniversary this year, the landmark research study has solved many mysteries about heart disease, given us several groundbreaking treatments, and laid the foundation for our modern understanding of CVD risk factors. In 1948, under the direction of the National Heart Institute, now the National Heart,...

On February 12–13, the Alliance for Headache Disorders Advocacy organized the 11 th annual edition of the “Headache on the Hill.” This is a unique opportunity for patients and their families, headache providers and scientists to interact with legislators and advocate for pressing issues in the field. The single most important problem to address has been identified, and solutions for it have been proposed under a bipartisan bill introduced in both the Senate and House of Representatives as the Opioids and Stop Pain Initiative Act (S.2260/H.R. 4733). The annual societal cost of the pain and opioid crisis has been estimated at $1.1 trillion per year, making it the most costly U.S. health...

Dear Research Advocate: Advocacy works! Yesterday the Senate reached a bipartisan agreement to raise both the Defense and non-Defense budget caps for FY18 and FY19. We expect the Senate and House to pass the measure and the President to sign the bill in time to prevent another government shutdown. The two-year deal is part of yet another (but this time very different) continuing resolution (CR), giving appropriators until March 23 to work out a final omnibus appropriations bill based — at last! — on higher spending caps. Many thanks to our partners in the Raise the Caps campaign, and thanks to all who joined us on social media to help secure the higher caps. Together, we gave voice — loudly...

World Cancer Day, taking place on February 4, aims to "get as many people as possible around the globe to talk about cancer ." This year, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) hopes that, in addition to talking about cancer broadly, people around the world will also discuss the disproportionate impact that cancer has on disadvantaged and minority groups. We must continue to talk about the problem of cancer health disparities and address this pressing issue comprehensively and with passion and commitment. According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), cancer health disparities are “adverse differences in cancer incidence (new cases), cancer prevalence (all existing cases),...