Rock Stars of Science Briefing

[barbara]

Here's your big chance to meet Francis Collins. By the way, this event has several Big Pharma sponsors. What a surprise.



SAVE THE DATE: September 24

11 a.m. to 3 p.m. ∙ Capitol Visitors Center Auditorium

ROCK STARS OF SCIENCE BRIEFING

NIH Director Francis Collins, MD, PhD
NIAID Director Anthony Fauci, MD
Nightline?s Terry Moran
∙
Special Appearance: Aerosmith's Joe Perry
Musical Tribute to Congressional Champions of Research
∙
David Agus, MD, USC ∙ Jeffrey Cummings, MD, UCLA ∙
Steven DeKosky, MD, UVA ∙ Samuel Gandy, MD, PhD, Mt. Sinai ∙
Ron Petersen, MD, PhD, Mayo Clinic ∙ Rudy Tanzi, PhD, Harvard

[Jeannine]

Isn't this the guy who cares more about the health of people in other countries than his own?

[barbara]

Aerosmith co-founder Joe Perry performed onstage with NIH Director Francis S. Collins, MD, PhD, and Harvard?s Rudy Tanzi, PhD, at a September 24 Capitol Hill event celebrating scientists.


Hosted by the Geoffrey Beene Foundation, Research!America, Wyeth, Elan, the Alzeimer?s Association and GQ, the Rock Stars of Science briefing also included ABC News? Terry Moran as moderator of panels about Alzheimer?s disease and cancer research and conversations with members of Congress, including co-chairs of the Congressional Task Force on Alzheimer?s Disease, Rep. Edward Markey (MA), Rep. Chris Smith (NJ) and Sen. Mark Warner (VA).

In addition to their performance, Perry and Tanzi also talked with Moran, Elan's Dale Schenk, PhD, and Meryl Comer, executive producer of the Rock Stars of Science campaign, about the similarities between making music and conducting research.

George Vradenburg, chairman of the Geoffrey Beene Gives Back? Alzheimer?s Initiative and founding member of LEAD-Leaders Engaged on Alzheimer?s Disease, and Robert Egge, vice president of public policy and advocacy for the Alzheimer?s Association, talked about the goal of stopping Alzheimer?s by 2020.

Alysia Snell of Lake Research Partners presented new public opinion poll findings about awareness and attitudes toward Alzheimer?s disease.

Research!America President Mary Woolley discussed the hope research provides and the Research!America public opinion poll finding that inspired the Rock Stars of Science campaign: most Americans can?t name a living scientist.

Rep. Brian Bilbray (CA), Rep. Mike Castle (DE) and Rep. Rush Holt (NJ), co-chairs of the Congressional Biomedical Research Caucus, spoke about research as part of the health care reform debate and competition for research resources among diseases.

NIH Director Collins also spoke about his vision for the institutes and called on advocates to work together.

?If you want a cure for cancer, you need to advocate for a cohesive understanding for all medical research,? Collins said. ?We need unanimous, comprehensive approach to diseases. We should not be battling each other.?

He also said Congress must ensure research funding doesn?t drop off after funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act are exhausted.

?Science doesn?t run on a two-year cycle,? he said. ?It is not a sprint but a marathon. If there is no extra funding after 2011, we will only be able to fund one out of every 10 applications.?

Anthony Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, spoke about the recent release of the promising research into an HIV/AIDS vaccine and the bulk of research that goes on behind the scenes.

?The real guts of what we do are the years of work before and after this blip to make a tool to fight this disease,? Fauci said.

Laura Ziskin, filmmaker and founder of Stand Up To Cancer; Laura Shawver, PhD, CEO of Phenomix Corporation and member of the Stand Up to Cancer Scientific Advisory Committee; Amy Dockser Marcus, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter at the Wall Street Journal; and singer and actor Delta Goodrem spoke with Moran about making strides in cancer research and their personal stories of cancer survival. Goodrem performed a song to close the event.

Find out more about the Rock Stars of Science, and nominate your own rock star scientist at www.rockstarsofscience.org.

Videos from the event will be added to Research!America?s YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/researchamerica.