BRINGING RESEARCH CLOSER TO HOME THE RESEARCHMARCH 2014 ADVOCATE Congress has begun Wolf, Fattah Named 2014 deliberations on funding levels for FY15. Pressure Whitehead Award Winners to cut federal spending Reps. Frank Wolf (R-VA) and Chaka Fattah (D-PA) will receive the 2014 Edwin this midterm election C. Whitehead Award for Medical Research Advocacy at this year’s Advocacy Awards dinner on March 12. year is enormous, and “Representatives Wolf and Fattah are exceptional champions for research,” said Re- we need advocates search!America Chair John Edward Porter. ”They have worked vigorously to in- to reach out to their crease funding for research, support policies that ignite public and private sector innovation, maintain our global competitiveness, and help patients and their fami- representatives. Rep. Frank Wolf Rep. Chaka lies struggling with costly and debilitating diseases.” (R-VA) Fattah (D-PA) Learn more on Both serve as their party’s leaders on the House Appropriations Committee’s Com- page 8. merce, Justice, Science Subcommittee. Wolf was a founder of the “Rising Above the Gathering Storm” Commission which sparked a national effort to bolster federal science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and R&D programs. These efforts culmi- nated in the enactment of the first America COMPETES Act in 2007 to increase public-private partnerships and provide assistance to innovators throughout the country. Wolf also supported the act’s reauthorization in 2010. He is an active member of several caucuses, including research and development, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and multi- ple sclerosis. “It has been a true privilege to play a role in advocating for the resources and policy environment required not only to maintain our global leadership in the scientific arena, but to optimize the use of science for the good of our nation and ACTION the world,” Wolf said. “Scientific innovation has saved countless lives, fueled our economy, equipped our troops and ALERT continued on page 4 Most Not Well Informed on Elected Officials’ Positions on Research 43% 11% Research!America Board Member Victor Dzau informed not sure Named Institute of Medicine President Victor Dzau, MD, chancellor for health affairs at vance research and improve health by providing objec- Duke University, president and CEO for Duke Uni- tive, evidence-based guidance on critical issues.” 46% versity Health System, and a Research!America “I am humbled and honored to be selected to lead the not informed Board member, has been named IOM at a time of unprecedented opportunities and president of the Institute of Medi- challenges in health, health care and biomedical sci- cine. Dzau’s six-year term starts ences,” Dzau said. “Harvey Fineberg has been an ex- SOURCE: A RESEARCH!AMERICA POLL OF U.S. ADULTS July 1, 2014, and he replaces Har- ceptional leader of the IOM, and I am committed to CONDUCTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH ZOGBY ANALYTICS vey V. Fineberg, MD, PhD. IN JANUARY 2014. building on his outstanding work and advancing the “Victor Dzau is an internationally ac- impact of the IOM on the nation and globally.” claimed leader and scientist whose VISIT US ON THE WEB Prior to his term at Duke, Dzau served at Harvard www.researchamerica.org Victor Dzau, MD work has improved health care in University, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and the United States and globally,” www.twitter.com/researchamerica Stanford University, among other institutions. He is National Academy of Sciences President Ralph www.researchamerica.org/facebook the past president of the Association of Academic Cicerone, PhD, said in a statement. “Under his direc- Health Centers. www.youtube.com/researchamerica tion, the Institute of Medicine will continue to ad- www.researchamerica.org/blog PRESIDENT’S LETTER Research!America is about to celebrate truly world-class advocates for medical and health research at our annual Advocacy Awards Dinner. It is not lost on any of us that the event will occur just as Congress undertakes a regular-order appropriations process for the first time in many years. What we’re working toward is assuring that the determination of all advocates for re- search is contagious; that Members of Congress adopt their spirit and empower the scientific ecosystem with the support it needs to address disease, disability and stagnating economic growth. It isn’t really about what we can “afford”—if that were actually the driver, we’d be taking much stronger pre-emptive measures, since we know we can’t indefinitely afford the Alzheimer’s tsunami or the continuation of 20th century approaches to a host of diseases. (“Pay me now or pay me later” was the tagline of the old Midas muffler ad; it rings true today.) Mary Woolley President and CEO I know I don’t have to convince you of this logic. I want instead to convince you to participate in our 2014 voter education ini- tiative, so that, collectively, we assure that those voting in November have medical progress—via putting research to work— on their minds at the ballot box. Which candidate will better champion research? That’s the question we want at the forefront. Candidates will respond if enough voters ask them to declare their views. Learn more at www.askyourcandidates.org! Research!America Extends Special Thanks To Our Principal Partners 2014 Advocacy Awards Dinner Host: Howard University Health North Carolina Association for Johnson & Johnson Sciences Biomedical Research Presenting Partner: Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Northeast Ohio Medical Inc. University Genentech, Inc. 25th Anniversary Commemorative Pfizer Inc Program Partner: Book Society for Neuroscience American Medical Association AcademyHealth Vanderbilt University Medical Contributor: American Cancer Society Center Duke University Medical Center American Medical Association America Speaks: Poll Data Northeast Ohio Medical Brigham & Women’s Summary, Vol.14 University Hospital/Partners Healthcare American Medical Association Sponsor: System, Inc. Ask Your Candidates! Voter Brigham & Women’s Duke University Health System Education Initiative Hospital/Partners Healthcare Friends of the National Institute American Heart Association System, Inc. of Nursing Research The American Physiological Howard Hughes Medical Institute Georgetown University Medical Society Center Duke University Medical Center Friends: Johns Hopkins University Bristol-Myers Squibb Lupus Foundation of America, McGladrey, LLP Inc. Cell Therapeutics, Inc. NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital Mary J.C. Hendrix, PhD and Charles E. Craft Visit www.researchamerica.org/partnership_opportunities for ways to support Research!America. 1101 King Street, Suite 520 Alexandria, VA 22314-2960 Special Thanks To New and Renewing Research!America Alliance Members New Member American Society of Tropical New York University www.researchamerica.org Wright State University Medicine and Hygiene Oral Health America 703-739-2577 / 800-366-CURE Renewing Members Association of Professors of Orthopaedic Research Society Human and Medical Genetics The Smith-Kettlewell Eye [email protected] Alliance for Aging Research Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Research Institute American Academy of Nursing Colgate-Palmolive Co. Society for Advancement of Editor: Brian Hunsicker American Academy of Pediatrics Danaher Corporation Violence and Injury Research American Federation for Medical Duke University Medical Center Summa Health System About Research!America Research The Endocrine Society University of Louisville School of American Public Health Research!America is the nation’s Greater Akron Chamber Dentistry Association Harris Search Associates Vanderbilt University Medical largest 501(c)(3) public education and American Society for Johns Hopkins University School Center advocacy alliance working to make re- Biochemistry and Molecular of Nursing Washington University School of search to improve health a higher na- Biology Howard Hughes Medical Institute Medicine in St. Louis tional priority. Founded in 1989, American Society for Clinical Kent State University WomenHeart: The National Research!America is supported by Investigation National Disease Research Coalition for Women with Heart member organizations that together Interchange Disease represent the voices of more than 125 million Americans. Our public opinion Not yet a member? Join Research!America today at www.researchamerica.org/supportourwork polls, advocacy programs and publica- tions reach the public and decision makers to help advance medical, health and scientific research. 2 RESEARCH!AMERICA President’s Budget Comes Up BOARD OF DIRECTORS OFFICERS The Honorable John Edward Porter, chair Short for Health Agencies The Honorable Michael N. Castle, vice chair Mary Woolley, president and CEO Larry J. Shapiro, MD, secretary On February 11, the House approved a debt ceiling increase, putting that Lucinda Maine, PhD, RPh, treasurer issue to rest until March 2015. The next order of business is the FY15 appro- BOARD MEMBERS Tenley E. Albright, MD priations process. On March 4, President Barack Obama released his Georges C. Benjamin, MD budget recommendations to Congress. The president requested an increase Nancy Brown Susan Dentzer of less than 1% for the National Institutes of Health, which would leave the Victor J. Dzau, MD Joseph M. Feczko, MD agency with funding below that of FY12. The president’s budget would in- Jay A. Gershen, DDS, PhD William Hait, MD, PhD crease the NIH budget by another $970 million through an “Opportunity, Mary J.C. Hendrix, PhD Growth and Security” initiative,