Research!America

The head of the Global Health Council, Nils Daulaire, thinks John McCain and Barack Obama are “the most internationally savvy pair of candidates that we have ever had running for president.”

So far, however, one seems to have more depth on global health issues than the other, and these issues are not insignificant at a time when international collaboration on research is a form of diplomacy in itself.

A review of the two candidates’ statements and positions on global health can be found in the current issue of The Lancet. (free registration required.)

For a fuller review of what McCain and Obama believe about domestic, as well as international, health and research issues, visit http://www.yourcandidatesyourhealth.org/presidential.php

Excerpts:

McCain: By continuing to build on our role as a global leader in helping provide medical care and public health interventions in areas of need, we will contribute to a more peaceful and stable world and foster a more positive view of the United States while safeguarding our nation’s health and strengthening our national security.

Obama: I believe America’s security is strengthened when we strengthen those weak states that are at risk of collapse, economic meltdown or public health crises. As president, I will double U.S. foreign aid assistance by 2012, and ensure that we work with other nations to improve international public health.

Research!America is committed to strengthening international health through the Paul G. Rogers Society for Global Health Research. We have also produced a fact sheet on the importance of global health here at home.

Yesterday’s Los Angeles Times has an article about an issue we should all be aware of, Animal Rights Terrorism.

… researchers who use animals in their quest for new drugs and medical breakthroughs are human beings who dedicate their lives to alleviating the pain and suffering of both people and animals.

Animal research is done humanely and only when necessary; it is highly regulated by the federal government; and it is the foundation for almost every medical breakthrough of the last century.

Read the entire story.

The University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health, a Research!America member, has received a $10 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to study vaccines. From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article by Joe Fahy:

The Vaccine Modeling Initiative, a four-year project announced today, will use computer simulations of epidemics to evaluate new vaccines and optimum ways of providing vaccinations.

“The Gates Foundation has been investing heavily in control of infectious diseases in developing countries,” said Dr. Donald Burke, dean of the public health school and the project’s principal investigator.

But a major challenge in stopping outbreaks, he said, “is predicting how control strategies, such as vaccines, will work.”

Burke is an Ambassador in Research!America’s Paul G. Rogers Society for Global Health Research, which is now accepting nominations for its next class of ambassadors.

Article Makes the Connection between Politics and Medical Research

Research!America is featured prominently in the fall issue of Chicago Life magazine, in a story on the link between politics, budget cuts and research. The article, by Carmen Marti, quotes Mary Woolley and references our U.S. Investment in Research report and our Your Candidates-Your Health initiative. (Note, however, that John McCain has responded to our Your Candidates-Your Health questionnaire since this article went to press.)

…others say a loss of research production will hurt U.S. standing as the world leader in biomedical advances. In an August 2001 speech, Bush applauded the, “long and proud record of leading the world toward advances in science and medicine that improve human life.” Yet, critics such as Mary Woolley, president and CEO of Research!America, an advocacy group funded by many organizations and the pharmaceutical industry, say this is the legacy that spending cuts threaten. “Sadly,” she said in a statement about current funding, “the White House no longer seems to view such spending as a priority. Today, the National Institutes of Health is only able to fund two in 10 qualified medical research projects. The president’s 2009 budget recommendation could slow this rate even further—proposing no increase for the NIH and budget cuts for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other health agencies.”

…

“Now is the time for advocacy,” Woolley says. “Members of Congress will listen to their constituents. Remember, your voice counts.”

The story is available online at http://www.chicagolife.net/content/health/Red_White_and_Budget_Cuts.

Families USA has conducted an extensive analysis of the presidential candidates’ respective health care plans, “Health Care and the 2008 Election: Comparing the Candidates’ Positions on Health Care.”

With health costs on the rise and more Americans than ever uninsured, health care is among the top domestic concerns of voters. Senators John McCain and Barack Obama have responded by making health reform proposals central to their platforms for the presidency.

The candidates share common ground that is worth noting. Most importantly, Senators McCain and Obama both recognize that controlling health system costs is paramount, and their plans tackle these costs in similar ways. They both promote increased access to information on the cost and quality of care, evidence based medicine, health information technology and electronic prescribing, and medical malpractice reform. In addition, both proposals stress the importance of disease prevention and management.

Beyond these similarities, however, are fundamental and profound differences between the two candidates’ proposals. These differences concern how health care should be organized and paid for in the United States.

Read more on the Families USA Web site.

Also, be sure to visit www.yourcandidatesyourhealth.org to discover what McCain and Obama said in response to our survey about health, research and science.

Hat tip - Sheril R. Kirshenbaum at The Intersection.

Urge Your Candidates to Make Research a Higher Priority

Take action and tell your congressional candidates that health and research are important to you. Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama, as well as many congressional candidates, have shared their views on health, science and research. Go to www.YourCandidatesYourHealth.org and urge your candidates to declare their views on these important issues if they haven’t already.

Starting August 17 and continuing up to the election, Your Candidates-Your Health will be featured on PARADE magazine’s Web site, which reaches a million Americans each month. In addition, our voter education initiative will be promoted at the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. Tell your candidates to respond right away to share their views with the many voters that will visit the site from now up to the election.

Please also join our Facebook group and help spread the word about Your Candidates-Your Health to your colleagues, members and fellow voters. With your involvement, we can make research a higher priority in the upcoming election, the next Administration and the next Congress.

The Paul G. Rogers Society for Global Health Research is now accepting nominations for its 2008 class of Ambassadors. Nominees must be U.S. leaders in global health research who have demonstrated an understanding of, and commitment to, advocacy for global health research.

Read more about the nominations process and how you can submit at www.researchamerica.org/08pgrnominations or download a PDF of the nominations brochure.

Important reading (and listening) from yesterday’s All Things Considered on NPR. Reporter Joe Palca explores the presidential candidates’ positions on science and federal funding for scientific research.

The last eight years have brought multiple charges that the White House has politicized science — from muzzling federal climate scientists to ignoring advice on clear air and endangered species.

Both Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama say that if they are elected, things will be different. And although the two differ on how much money should be promised to basic research, they say they will restore integrity to federal science agencies.

You can read what the candidates say about science and research, including funding for the federal agencies, at www.yourcandidatesyourhealth.org.

The University of California at San Francisco (a Research!America member) has an interesting and successful initiative called Science Café, a weekly conversation about the culture, conduct and community of science. From the welcome by Jeff Miller:

Science at UCSF is a human endeavor … But so often when telling the story of science, we frame it as a straightforward march to discovery. The details and the context, the circuitous path of research, the process and sometimes the people themselves are neglected.

In short, we seldom have the opportunity to tell the story behind the story or to discuss why it is important or, better yet, to talk about science when breakthroughs are not presumably imminent.

Each week, the Science Café will give you a seat at this table. From stem cells and what sells to great ideas, yeasty trends and budding controversies, we will be developing a menu for your mind. You can just “listen in” or, if the mood strikes, join in the conversation by offering comments or suggesting topics.

The two-year-old initiative attracts a weekly audience of around 12,000 readers and podcast downloaders, Miller said.

UCSF has expanded to Science Café World, which allows users to create their own “science café.”

Research!America encourages our members and visitors to this blog to get involved with communicating science in any way possible, be it through Science Café or otherwise. Be sure to let us know about your efforts, successes and challenges.

Research!America board member Jay A. Gershen, DDS, PhD, was interviewed by reporter Abigail Curtis for a radio piece “The Dream of Prosperity.” The story is part of “The American Dream” series of News21, a journalism initiative of the Carnegie and Knight foundations.

Visit http://news21project.org/project/american_dream and click on the icon in Colorado labeled “The Dream of Prosperity” to listen to the story.

Gershen talks about the transformation of the Fitzsimons Army Medical Center into the Anschutz Medical Campus and the economic impact of that investment.

The Team at ScienceDebate2008 sent an update late Friday about the progress being made on the effort to have a presidential debate focused on science.

Innovation 2008
The presidential campaigns tell us they are preparing answers to the 14 key science questions of Innovation 2008 and will have something to us soon. If you can’t wait, you can find handy comparisons of what is known on the AAAS site here and the SEA site here.

…

Innovation 2008 Conference
We are cohosting a major conference with our friends at the Center for Science, Technology, and Public Policy at the University of Minnesota, called Innovation 2008: Renewing America Through Smarter Science & Technology Policy, and focused on the presidential transition. Visit the conference site here, and please save the dates of October 20 and 21st. Science Debate 2008 supporters Peter Agre and Ira Flatow will deliver the keynotes, and supporters Andy Fire, Lawrence Krauss, Russ Lefevre, Chris Mooney, Genie Scott, Susan Wood, Mary Woolley, and many others will be presenting on a variety of topics important to the next administration.

Visit ScienceDebate2008.com to sign onto the call for presidential candidates to debate the important issues involving science.

Congress to Work on Continuing Resolution
Urge Your Elected Officials to Support Health Research

As soon as Congress returns from recess in early September, they are expected to work on a Continuing Resolution (CR). Take this opportunity to reach out to your elected officials urging them to support increased health research funding in the CR.

As in past years, Congress is not expected to finish appropriations before the end of the fiscal year on September 30. Now, they must pass a Continuing Resolution to keep the government running into FY09. Ask your elected officials to do all they can to increase funds for research to improve health in the CR. Take action now!

AARP, a frequent Research!America partner, has released new research that defines “swing voters” in six states key to the election this fall. The research also identifies the specific policy options that motivate them. From the press release:

The research identifies who undecided, swing voters are — white, lower-to-middle income, older women — in six key states: Florida, Iowa, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Swing voters in the six key states are focused domestically on the economy and health care, but three-fourths (72%) believe the candidates are doing a poor or fair job of addressing these key issues.

Download the research report.

Jeff Mullin writes commentary in this Oklahoma daily and mentions a 2006 Research!America public opinion poll on aging and longevity.

Memory is a hot topic these days.

With the graying of America, more and more attention is being paid to aging and its relationship with mental acuity.

Americans are more than twice as likely to fear losing their mental capacity than their physical capacity as they age, according to a 2006 poll by Research!America, a nonprofit public education and advocacy alliance.

As a result, science is spending a great deal of time and money studying the human brain’s capacity to store and retrieve information.

Continue reading.

Epidemic Intelligence Service Officers, often called CDC’s “disease detectives,” have gone on to occupy leadership positions at CDC and other public health agencies nationally and internationally. The experience also is useful for health professionals who want to gain a population health perspective.

Apply for the 2-year, postgraduate program of service and on-the-job training for health professionals interested in the practice of epidemiology at www.cdc.gov/eis/applyeis/toapply.htm.

An article on Forbes.com, Surprising Things That Affect Memory, by Allison Van Dusen, mentions a 2006 Research!America public opinion poll to jump start this check list of items that impact memory.

Maintaining mental acuity is a major concern for aging Americans–they want to make the most of their golden years rather than have to struggle through them. In fact, adults are more than twice as likely to fear losing their mental capacity as their physical capacity, according to a 2006 poll by Research!America, a nonprofit public education and advocacy alliance.

Continue reading.

The Association of Schools of Public Health, a Research!America member and a partner in Your Candidates-Your Health, publicized the voter education initiative in its popular Friday Letter:

Senator John McCain recently submitted his responses to the Your Candidates-Your Health 2008 web site, an initiative of Research!America. He joins Senator Barack Obama, who completed the questionnaire earlier. All 2008 candidates for president were invited to let voters know where they stand on health and research by filling out a brief questionnaire. To view the web site and compare the candidates’ stances in important health and research issues, visit www.yourcandidatesyourhealth.org/presidential.php.

Research!America encourages voters to also thank both candidates for participating in this important voter education initiative and to encourage their congressional candidates to declare their views on issues such as health care, research funding and competitiveness.

The Lymphatic Research Foundation, a Research!America member, is featured today as CHARITY OF THE DAY by www.GoodSearch.com. From Mary Anne McCarrick at LRF:

GoodSearch.com donates half its revenue, about a penny per search, to the charities its users designate. Use GoodSearch.com just as you would any search engine. It’s powered by Yahoo! so you get good results. GoodShop.com is a related online shopping mall through which a percentage of each purchase is donated to your favorite cause.

It’s simple to turn your internet searches and online shopping into research dollars for LRF. Go to www.GoodShop.com and enter Lymphatic Research Foundation as the charity you want to support and start shopping.

Congratulations to LRF! If you’re a Research!America member who would like to be featured in our blog, be sure to e-mail editor@researchamerica.org.

Research!America’s leadership submitted a statement about the importance of research to the Democratic and Republican Partys’ Platform Drafting Committees last week. Take action NOW by sending the parties the same or a similar message. Also, use these statements in your interactions with congressional members and candidates.

The research statement is built upon the premise that investing in research will make Americans healthier, improve health care, strengthen our economy, allow America to lead, protect our future and improve health globally. Read the letters to the Democratic and Republican Platform Drafting Committees (PDFs) and send your own message to each party. The Democratic Party will begin drafting their platform this weekend, so contact them immediately. The Republican Party will be meeting during the last week in August. Contact information for the chairs of both committees is available on our Web site.