JMF APPEARS BEFORE HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS SUB-COMMITTEE
Vicki
Modell, Co-founder of The Jeffrey Modell Foundation, presented testimony before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Health. Members of the Committee offered support and encouragement to the JMF for its basic research
partnerships with the National Institutes of Health. Currently there are 6 such collaborative research programs at leading academic medical centers and universities throughout the United States.
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Vicki & Fred working with Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-NY) |
In her testimony, Vicki Modell requested an expansion of the research partnership between the JMF and NIH to include a public awareness campaign on primary immune deficiency diseases. She described the collaboration as a "circle" that connects public awareness to physician education, to basic biomedical research, to clinical research, and finally to clinical application. She made the point that Ņeven if the NIH is doing the best research in the world, the research cannot help a sick child if the parents and the pediatrician don't know about it. Public Awareness and Physician Education must be linked to the research, in order to intervene with the most effective treatments"
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Chairman of the Appropriations Sub-Committee Rep. John Porter (R-IL) |
Prior to her formal testimony, Congressman Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Senior Minority Member of the Committee, offered kind and generous personal remarks of encouragement:
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Congressman Steny Hoyer(D-MD) reviews public awarness campaign |
"I want to say that America is enriched by Vicki and Fred, by parents such as you and others in this room, who do take the time, because you have a personal experience and can relate information in a way that is much more compelling than somebody else. Heads of Institutes are extraordinary people with unbelievable talent. Tony Fauci, as you recall, was one of George Bush's heroes. However Mr. Chairman, you are absolutely right that when somebody who has had a personal experience comes before this Committee and says, look, this is how it is and we need to focus on this, then it becomes a lot easier for this Committee and others to speak to our colleagues in the Congress and say... 'We need to invest this money, because it will make a difference, not just for our children, families, communities and our country, but for all the world'... and for that I want to thank you. You two do an incredible job and I am so proud of you."
National Hotline 1-800-JEFF-844 info@jmfworld.orgJMF UPDATE is published by the Jeffrey Modell Foundation, Inc., A non-profit Research Foundation. The mission of the JMF includes Research, Physician Education, Patient Support, and Public Awareness. Address all inquiries to the Jeffrey Modell Foundation, Inc., 43 West 47th Street, New York, NY 10036 or call (212) 575-1122. Copyright 2002, The Jeffrey Modell Foundation. All rights reserved.