Posts Tagged ‘Research’

Jett
Choquette

A Year for Scientific Innovation: How Biotechnology Fits into America’s Future

Friday, February 3rd, 2012

Photo credit: RACHEL DEVOR / THE EAGLE

Last week I had the opportunity to listen to two U.S. presidents discuss the future of America and the world – President Barak Obama in the 2012 State of the Union (via live-stream) and former President Bill Clinton at American University where he spoke about his latest work with the William J. Clinton Foundation (as a member of the audience).

While the purpose and overall messaging of both speeches were drastically different, one theme tied them together: America’s future depends on scientific innovation and, more importantly, investment in science. If the calls for action in both of these speeches materialize, this may be the year for biotechnology.

(more…)

Posted in Awards, Innovation, Research, Technology
By | No Comments »

Tags: , , , ,

 
Lauren Harris
Lauren
Holbrook Harris

A Race Against Time: Finding a Treatment for Progeria

Thursday, April 28th, 2011

This week, Lauran Neergaard (AP) reported on a topic near and dear to our hearts: the fight to find – and fund – treatments for rare diseases. Our client, The Progeria Research Foundation, was mentioned as an example of an organization striving to find a treatment for the rare, rapid-aging disease in children, Progeria. While full of personality, children with Progeria die from heart attacks or stroke at an average age of 13, so the clock is ticking to find a way to help these children during their short lives. As Neergaard mentions, clinical trials are currently underway through a partnership with Merck and a treatment for this disease could help more than just the estimated 150 children with Progeria around the world – the protein that causes Progeria may play a role in the heart disease that affects millions of aging Americans.

We are honored to work with this exemplary organization and will continue to do our part by raising awareness of Progeria and PRF’s research journey as the organization works day and night to find a treatment for these children. To support PRF in their mission, please click here.

Posted in Disease Awareness, Public Health
By | Comments Off

Tags: , , , , , , ,

 
jseng
John
Seng

Winning For Rare Disease Research

Thursday, March 10th, 2011

I learned several weeks ago that I’m to receive the Genetic Alliance “Art of Reporting” Award in June for Spectrum’s work on behalf of The Progeria Research Foundation‘s (PRF) “Find the Other 150”  campaign. I want to publicly thank Genetic Alliance for recognizing this campaign and our commitment to such a rare disease.

Progeria is a rare, rapid aging disease in children and our client, PRF, is working to find a treatment and cure for this disease. As of October 2009, experts estimated that there were approximately 150 unidentified children with Progeria around the world. Spectrum and our global partners, GLOBALHealthPR, teamed up with PRF to launch a global communications effort to find these 150 children.

(more…)

Posted in Awards, Disease Awareness, Progeria
By | Comments Off

Tags: , ,

 
RCano
Rosalba
Cano

Sarcoma, a Rare Disease with a Common Need: Increase Research to Advance Treatments

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

Throughout my career in healthcare communications, I’ve had the opportunity to learn about several of the more than 6,000 rare diseases that, taken together, affect approximately 25 million Americans – and have often thought, “I hope no one near me is directly affected by this disease – or any disease for that matter.”

Rare diseases are those that are extremely uncommon – ones that affect less than 200,000 people in the U.S. – and often have such low prevalence that the average doctor would most likely not run into more than one case of that disease in their career, if ever. chronic_disease

When I recently began working on sarcoma outreach, I again thought, “I hope no one close to me has sarcoma.” This time, my wishful thinking didn’t work. I found out not one but two people I work with have first-hand experience with sarcoma. One colleague’s father recently underwent surgery, after receiving chemotherapy, to remove a sarcoma tumor. To date, he is doing well and continues to have frequent check-ups to assess new growth. Another coworker was not quite as fortunate.  Her uncle lost his battle with a rare form of sarcoma within six months of his diagnosis. As you read this post, look around and talk to your friends, relatives or coworkers. You, too, may find out that a rare disease such as sarcoma is not completely unknown to those around you. (more…)

Posted in Chronic Disease, Disease Awareness
By | 1 Comment »

Tags: ,

 
Spectrum

Part III: Public Health in Philadelphia

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009

APHA Explores Food and Physical Fitness

The 137th Annual American Public Health Association (APHA) Meeting is bustling in Philly.  The Spectrum team continues to explore panels, sessions and posters to learn the latest in public health.

Food and Fitness in Focus

During this morning’s sessions at APHA, Linda Jo Doctor, MPH from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation hosted a discussion at the “Youth Involvement in Community-based Participatory Research Projects” roundtable. She spoke about multiple initiatives aimed at engaging community members to produce real health outcomes.

Both the Food and Fitness and The School Food FOCUS initiatives are working to increase access to and bring affordable, regionally grown and nutritious food options to communities and schools throughout the country. In addition, the Food and Fitness program is collaborating with organizations in nine communities to create sustainable “fitness” environments for community members to become active. (more…)

Posted in Public Affairs, Public Health, Research, Uncategorized
By | Comments Off

Tags: , , , ,

 
Spectrum

Part II: Public Health in Philadelphia

Tuesday, November 10th, 2009

Today was the first full day of sessions and posters at the American Public Health Association Annual Meeting in Philadelphia.  Our Spectrum team spread through the conference and heard some interesting things, including:

Menu Labeling and Policy

In a session on menu labeling in New York City, Portland, and Seattle, research and policies were compared.  The Spectrum blog has previously written about research conducted in NYC.   The session started off with a discussion about why menu labeling is important; James Krieger asked the room to guess how many calories are in a variety of fast food meals, ranging from Burger King to Pizza Hut.  The Pizza Hut Cream Chicken Alfredo Pesto Pasta has a startling 3,270 calories per serving.  That’s nearly double the recommended calories for adults in an entire day.

There are currently 16 jurisdictions that have passed and/ or are currently implementing menu labeling initiatives.  Additionally, the health reform legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on Saturday evening includes a menu labeling provision, which would preempt any state and local legislation.  The provision would only require calorie information to be posted, unlike some jurisdictions where fat, sodium, and other nutritional information is made available. (more…)

Posted in Health Policy, Public Affairs, Research, Technology, Tweets, Uncategorized
By | Comments Off

Tags: , , , , ,