Noel Lloyd, Author at Friends of the National Institute on Aging

Autoimmune Diseases Summit

WEBCAST ARCHIVE AVAILABLE HERE.

AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES SUMMIT: THE GLOBAL STATE OF AUTOIMMUNITY TODAY
Time: March 3, 2010 all day
Location: The Liaison Hotel
Street: 415 New Jersey Avenue, NW
City/Town: Washington D.C.
Website or Map: http://www.aarda.org
Phone: 586-776-3900
Event Type: conference
Organized By: American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association (AARDA)/ National Coalition of Autoimmune Patient Groups (NCAPG)

Mar. 3, 8:30 a.m., The Liason Hotel, 415 New Jersey Avenue NW

The American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association (AARDA) in collaboration with the National Coalition of Autoimmune Patient Groups (NCAPG) are hosting a national summit meeting on autoimmune diseases titled “Autoimmune Diseases Summit: The Global State of Autoimmunity Today.” The summit will include panel discussions on public policy, media, epidemiology and research surrounding the escalating problem of autoimmune diseases which affect some 50 million Americans today.

Participants:

Melissa Joan Hart (keynote speaker), actress; Donna Jackson Nakazawa (moderator), author of The Autoimmune Epidemic; Glinda Cooper, PhD, National Center for Environmental Assessment, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); M. Eric Gershwin, MD, Chief, Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Clinical Immunology, University of California at Davis; Christine Parks, Research Fellow, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS); Frederick W. Miller, MD, PhD, Principal Investigator, Environmental Autoimmunity Group, NIEHS; Stanley M. Finger, PhD, Chairman of the Board, AARDA; Virginia T. Ladd, President and Executive Director, AARDA; Phyllis E. Greenberger, MSW, Society for Women’s Health Research; Betty Diamond, MD, Center Head, Department of Autoimmune Diseases, The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board, AARDA; Michael Amos, PhD, National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST); Rita Baron-Faust (moderator), MPH, CHES, author of The Autoimmune Connection; Margery Rosen, freelance writer; Peggy Peck, Vice President and Executive Editor, MedPage Today; Becca McDevitt, WJLA-TV, Washington, DC; Noel R. Rose, MD, PhD, Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Autoimmune Disease Research, Chairman Emeritus of the Scientific Advisory Board, AARDA; Dr Robert Carter (moderator), Deputy Director, National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skins Diseases (NIAMS); Daniel Rotrosen, MD, Director, Division of Allergy, Immunology, and Transplantation (DAIT), National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases(NIAID); Dr. David Norris, Chair of the Department of Dermatology, University of Colorado Medical Center; Anthony Hayward, Division Director, National Center for Research Resources, NCRR; Katherine Morland Hammit, MA, Vice President of Research, Sjogren’s Syndrome Foundation; Cartier Esham, PhD, Director, Emerging Companies Health and Regulatory Affairs, Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO)

Note: Register online. Summit Program FREE; additional $25 fee for luncheon and reception attendance.

Contact: Kristian Hurley at 586-776-3900 [email protected]

For further information: http://www.aarda.org

Expert Discussion on the Effect of the Economic Downturn on American Families

Time: February 5, 2010 from 12pm to 1:30pm
Location: TBA
Event Type: expert, discussion
Organized By: Lisa Rosenberg at [email protected]

**DUE TO WEATHER CONDITIONS, THE BRIEFING IS CANCELLED.

___________________________________________
You are invited to an Expert Discussion on the Effect of the Economic Downturn on American Families
February 5, 2010, 12:00-1:30
The current economic downturn has touched almost every American family. High unemployment, depleted college savings accounts and decimated retirement plans are just a few of the problems that have left a large proportion of our population in a precarious financial situation. Policy makers need to understand the cradle-to-grave impact the downturn has had in order to develop policies and ensure the social safety net is wide enough to protect the most vulnerable populations. On Friday, February 5, The Population Association of America is bringing a panel of distinguished, nationally known researchers to Washington DC to sponsor a discussion on the impact the recent financial downturn has had on American families including:

Children of unemployed or underemployed parents
Young adults transitioning to higher education or the workforce
The aging and elderly

We hope you can join us for this important event. For more information or to RSVP, please contact: Lisa Rosenberg at [email protected]

Today’s briefing is cancelled due to the snow emergency

Posted by Kimberly Acquaviva, PhD, MSW on February 5, 2010 at 10:34am

From the Ad Hoc Group for Medical Research

Posted by Kimberly Acquaviva, PhD, MSW on November 10, 2009 at 3:56am

The following is a message received from the Ad Hoc Group for Medical Research:

“Please find attached a letter drafted by the Ad Hoc Group steering committee that thanks the administration for the NIH funds in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and urges that NIH be a significant priority in the FY 2011 budget. To sign on to the letter, please contact Hayzell Gollopp at [email protected] by NOON on Friday, Nov. 20. We encourage you to circulate this letter to other organizations that may be interested in signing.

Also, please look out in the coming days for an action alert to activate your grassroots networks in anticipation of the FY 2011 budget process. During the week of Nov. 16, Ad Hoc Group organizations will be asked to encourage their memberships to thank the President for the NIH funds in the Recovery Act and urge him to make NIH a major priority in the FY 2011 budget. Materials and more information coming soon!

We hope you will join us in maximizing this opportunity to highlight the needs of the medical research community at this key point in the budget process.”

FY11SignonLettertoObama1109

Congressional Biomedical Research Caucus picture

Fragile X Syndrome: Can Drugs be Used to Reverse Autism?

Time: September 30, 2009 from 12pm to 1pm
Location: B369 Rayburn House Office Building
City/Town: Washington, DC
Event Type: congressional, biomedical, research,caucus, briefing
Organized By: Congressional Biomedical Research Caucus

Dr. Stephen T. Warren
Emory University

Dr. Warren led the research that discovered how the gene mutation responsible for Fragile X Syndrome (FXS) alters the way brain cells communicate. FXS is the most commonly inherited form of mental retardation, with nearly a third of FXS patients also having autism, making FXS the single best understood cause of autism and a model for autism research.

FXS is caused by a mutation in the FMR1 gene on the X chromosome. Dr. Warren and his colleagues led an international team that discovered the FMR1 gene in 1991.They found that in patients with FXS, the expanded CGG triplet repeats can be repeated from 55 to over 200 times—whereas in healthy individuals the repeats range from 40 to fewer than 10. As a result of the hyper-CGG repeats, the expression of the FMR1 gene is repressed, which leads to the absence of FMR1 protein and subsequent mental retardation.

Dr. Warren and his team have since developed diagnostic tests for FXS. Clinical trials are now under way for FXS, taking advantage of the fundamental basic science research on FXS carried out over the past two decades. FXS is now used as a model of how fundamental research on autism could lead the way for future therapeutic interventions in autistic disorders.