On March 12, 2014, Research!America held its annual Advocacy Awards Dinner. Among the highlights:

Read the keynote remarks from our chair, The Honorable John Edward Porter.

To see the full acceptance speeches of each of our awardees, visit our YouTube playlist. Below are excerpts from each of the awardees’ speeches:

“First, the funding in our committee, for the sciences and the National Science Foundation, is at a record high — real dollars, inflated dollars, but it is at a record high. Second, I am a Reagan Republican. Mr. Fattah is, I think, an Obama Democrat. And we work well together, we like each other, and we have gotten a lot done.” — Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), winner of the 2014 Edwin C. Whitehead Award for Medical Research Advocacy

“The journey began when Jess came to me and said, ‘I need your help. I can’t stop thinking about killing myself.’ And it was a shock, but it began our journey. And it’s been a magnificent journey, and one that we will not end until people are speaking about mental illness in this country – and hopefully around the world — with the same lack of fear and shame as they do with any other chronic illness.” — Glenn Close, winner of the 2014 Isadore Rosenfeld Award for Impact on Public Opinion along with her sister, Jessie Close, and nephew, Calen Pick

“Every morning I wake up to emails and phone calls from patients who have relapsed, run out of options, and they are dying. Our disease is still fatal. I know we have to do more, not just in myeloma, but across all cancers. Because 1 in 3 of us will be diagnosed, and 1 in 4 of us will die of this disease.” — Kathy Giusti, winner of the 2014 Gordon and Llura Gund Leadership Award

“We thank you for showing us what is possible when industry, government, scientists, physicians and patient advocacy groups work together. Each of us brings different strengths and together, we make progress where individually we never could.” — Leslie Gordon, MD, PhD, medical director of the Progeria Research Foundation, winner of the 2014 Paul G. Rogers Distinguished Organization Advocacy Award 

“In taking the systems approach to medicine, it’s obvious to me that health care is really about two things: one is wellness and the second is about demystifying disease. With regards to wellness, what we really need are metrics for being able to assess how well we are. Now, the definitions are vague and psychological.” — Leroy Hood, MD, PhD, winner of the 2014 Geoffrey Beene Builders of Science Award

“Tonight, I commit to Research!America and to all of you that I will redouble my efforts as an advocate for this incredibly talented community of scientists and clinicians. We deserve to give them our best. And above all, our nation deserves the best we can give them.” — Reed Tuckson, MD, winner of the 2014 Raymond and Beverly Sackler Award for Sustained National Leadership

Below are a selection of photos from the evening; to see more, visit our Flickr page.

 

Gilbert Omenn, MD, PhD, of the University of Michigan (left), talks with Advocacy Award winner Leroy Hood, MD, PhD (center) and Research!America Board member Gregory Sorensen, MD.

 

 

Georges Benjamin, MD (left); Advocacy Award winner Glenn Close; Evelyn Tuckson; and Reed Tuckson, MD, pose for a photo prior to the 2014 Advocacy Awards Dinner.

 

 

Advocacy Award winner Kathy Giusti, left, talks with Research!America Board member Amy Comstock Rick, JD.

 

 

Research!America President and CEO Mary Woolley, left, poses for a photo with Board member Laing Rogers Sisto and Rebecca Rogers, the widow of Research!America Chair Emeritus Paul Rogers.

 

Julie Gerberding, MD, (left) of Merck, poses with Ed Hunter of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Carolyn Clancy, MD, of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

 

Wanda Gamble of Battelle, left, and Alice Clark, PhD, of the University of Mississippi relax before the Advocacy Awards Dinner.

 

Research!America Board member Tenley Albright, MD, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, talks with William Anlyan, MD, former Research!America chair.

 

From left, Research!America Chair John Edward Porter; Research!America Vice Chair Mike Castle; Research!America Board member Alan Leshner, PhD, of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; and Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA).

 

Mohammed Newaz, MD, PhD, of Chicago State University (left); Christopher Frei, PharmD, PhD, of the University of Texas at Austin; and Jayanth Payman, PhD, of the University of Minnesota pose for a photo. All three were part of a group of American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy members who attended the Advocacy Awards.

 

Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-PA), left, poses for a photo with Susan Whitehead, JD, and Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA). Wolf and Fattah were winners of the Edwin C. Whitehead Award for Medical Research Advocacy; Susan Whitehead was the presenter for both.

 

Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) accepts the 2014 Edwin C. Whitehead Award for Medical Research Advocacy.

 

Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-PA) shakes hands with Research!America Chair John Edward Porter as Roger Perlmutter, MD, PhD, of Merck, looks on.

 

Research!America emeritus Board member Elizabeth Nabel, MD, introduced the Progeria Research Foundation, which won the Paul G. Rogers Distinguished Organization Advocacy Award.

 

Audrey Gordon, Esq. (left); Leslie Gordon, MD, PhD; and Scott Berns, MD, MPH accept the Paul G. Rogers Distinguished Organization Advocacy Award on behalf of the Progeria Research Foundation.

 

 

William Hait, MD, PhD, a Research!America Board member, introduces Kathy Giusti, the winner of the Gordon and Llura Gund Leadership Award.

 

 

Kathy Giusti, who founded the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, accepts the Gordon and Llura Gund Leadership Award.

 

 

Evan Jones, a Research!America Board member, introduces Reed Tuckson, MD, the winner of the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Award for Sustained National Leadership. 

 

 

Reed Tuckson, MD, accepts the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Award for Sustained National Leadership. 

 

 

Mara Hutton of the Geoffrey Beene Foundation introduces Leroy Hood, MD, PhD, the 2014 winner of the Geoffrey Beene Builders of Science Award.

 

 

Leroy Hood, MD, PhD, accepts the Geoffrey Beene Builders of Science Award for his work in systems biology and his inventions that helped bring about the sequencing of the human genome.

 

 

Herbert Pardes, MD, a Research!America Board member, introduces the winners of the Isadore Rosenfeld Award for Impact on Public Opinion: Glenn Close, Jessie Close and Calen Pick.

 
 

 

Jessie Close accepts the Isadore Rosenfeld Award for Impact on Public Opinion as her sister, Glenn, and son Calen Pick look on.

 

 

Calen Pick smiles during his part of the acceptance speech for the Isadore Rosenfeld Award for Impact on Public Opinion.