Political Strength
Slide 5 of 29
Political Strength – €Coordinated efforts bring results€ --
In the past the PD advocacy groups have accomplished the most when we have worked together and recently we have bee very successful in Washington
The Sources of power are:
-- Widespread grass roots constituency activated to lobby the Federal Govenment.
-- Additional visibility from celebrities such as boxer, Mohammad Ali and actor Michael J. Fox
As a result:
-- 1997: Passed Udall Act to authorize $100 M per year for PD research,
created 10 research centers and other provisions.
This is important because it put us on the map politically on par with well funded health concerns such as AIDS and Breast Cancer. But authorization is not appropriation, and continuing efforts are needed to actually fund research.
---- 1999-2000: Collaboration with the NIH to develop the NIH Parkinson’s Research Agenda
In the past year we have worked closely with the neurology institute, the lead agency for PD, and this year we are expanding to other institutes -- NIMH, NIA etc.
