(Circulation. 1996;93:1773.)
© 1996 American Heart Association, Inc.
Articles |
AHA Leads New Heart and Stroke Research Coalition
From the AHA Office of Public Affairs, Washington, DC.
Correspondence to Scott Ballin, JD, Office of Public Affairs, AHA, Suite 810, 1150 Connecticut Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20036.
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Introduction |
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Scientists who seek NIH funding for cardiovascular disease and/or stroke research know all too well that heart and stroke research receives a disproportionate amount of NIH dollars. For example, federal research dollars spent per heart disease death equals less than 3% of federal research dollars spent per AIDS death, and federal dollars spent per stroke death equals less than 2% of dollars spent for AIDS death (FY 1994).
Faced with this trend, the American Heart Association and other concerned organizations are forming the National Coalition for Heart and Stroke Research. The mission of this coalition will be to influence the process by which the Executive Branch and Congress determine levels of funding for cardiovascular and stroke research in favor of increased allocations. The functions of the coalition will be to generate larger grassroots support for increased heart and stroke research funding, to foster and support activities and strategies to increase research funds, and to generate increased media coverage of heart and stroke issues.
The coalition hopes to recruit a celebrity spokesperson and an honorary celebrity committee to help bring attention to this important issue. Organizations with an interest in heart and/or stroke research are welcome to join. For more information, please contact Kelly Boyles at the AHA Office of Public Affairs: phone 202-822-9380 or fax 202-822-9883.
In addition, the following talking points might be of use to readers who want to write a letter to or visit their US senators and representatives.
1. The AHA advocates a significant increase in