Along with his work building some of the Nashville area’s leading health tech companies, Mr. Lee has volunteered his time to industry groups focused on advancing innovation in healthcare. Notably, from 2014 thru 2020, he served as a board member for Leadership Healthcare, an initiative of the Nashville Health Care Council focused on nurturing the talents of future industry leaders.
“I am honored and excited to serve the healthcare community as an incoming Tennessee HIMSS board member,” Lee said. “As one of the leading HIMSS chapters in the nation with nearly 2,000 members, the Tennessee chapter has been an important catalyst for growth and innovation for many years. I look forward to contributing to the development of more valuable programs that further establish the state as the epicenter of American healthcare.”
As a TN HIMSS board member, Mr. Lee will join a distinguished group of healthcare technology executives that includes Barbara Casey, President at Pixel Health; Kyle Duke, CIO at EvidenceCare; Rick Keller, SVP and CIO at Ardent Health Services; Keith Perry, SVP and CIO at St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital; and Eric Thrailkill, Chairman of Project Healthcare at the Nashville Entrepreneur Center.
“Baxter has been a fierce advocate for health tech in Nashville and across the state of Tennessee throughout his career,” said Clearwater CEO Steve Cagle. “The Tennessee HIMSS chapter will benefit greatly from his experience and his deep knowledge of and appreciation for the critical role that technology plays in the rapidly evolving healthcare ecosystem.”
About Clearwater
Clearwater helps organizations across the healthcare ecosystem move to a more secure, compliant, and resilient state so they can achieve their mission. The company provides a deep pool of experts across a broad range of cybersecurity, privacy, and compliance domains, purpose-built software that enables efficient identification and management of cybersecurity and compliance risks, and a tech-enabled, 24x7x365 Security Operations Center with managed threat detection and response capabilities. To learn more, please visit http://www.clearwatersecurity.com.
“I want my book to capture the reader’s attention, and help them become aware of various ways they can help their children,” said Lelewer. “We still have a major problem in this country with children and adults having reading issues and other learning struggles.”
Initially published in 1994, “Something’s Not Right” won a Parents Choice Award. Lelewer has gone through and updated the book to still address dyslexia, but also ADD, ADHD, and those on the upper end of the autism spectrum. She also completely revised the reference guide as a helpful resource for parents, teachers and children.
“If you have a child with dyslexia and/or other types of learning disabilities, this book is the first step in a long but very rewarding road,” said Lelewer. “It’s not easy, but with early diagnosis, appropriate education, warmth, understanding, and nurturing, the future can be bright for an individual with these learning problems.
Something’s Not Right 2nd Edition: One family’s struggle with learning disabilities By Nancy Lelewer ISBN: 9781665734684 (softcover); 9781665734660 (hardcover); 9781665734677 (electronic) Available at Archway Publishing, Amazon and Barnes & Noble
About the author Nancy Lelewer received a BA from Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY, an Associate in Neurology from Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, Mass., and was a research affiliate at MIT’s Man Vehicle lab: Center for Space Research, Cambridge, Mass. Her work was published in Cortex and Annals of Dyslexia. She was a cofounder of Permobil, a Swedish wheelchair company, today the largest computerized wheelchair company in the world. Lelewer has served on three dyslexia boards and spent five years as chairwoman of the board for a school for dyslexic boys. She has four children, eight grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, and currently resides in Boston, Mass. To learn more, please visit http://www.NancyLelewer.com.
Because it is built on the market-leading CrashPlan platform, the new MSP offering comes built-in with the same security, scalability, and ease-of-use that has been field-tested by CrashPlan’s largest, multinational enterprise customers. CrashPlan for MSPs features multiple capabilities intentionally designed for the specific needs of IT service organizations.
The MSP-focused offering is built to be quick for MSPs to learn, easy to sell, and simple to deploy and administer. Self-paced and personalized training and support allows an MSP to rapidly onboard their service experts. CrashPlan for MSP’s cloud-based SaaS deployment requires zero on-premises hardware, and comes with robust out-of-the-box system defaults to get customers up and running without time-consuming setup. Direct billing to the MSP on a monthly, per-user basis gives the MSP flexibility to easily add or remove customers without having to commit to a cap, and simply perform customer chargebacks based on consumption.
MSPs manage their own tenant within the CrashPlan cloud, allowing them to individually manage and segment each customer—and allow secure, granular access for customers to view their own business data. CrashPlan for MSPs’ simplified administrative functionality gives MSP administrators centralized visibility across their customer base, with direct control at the organization, user, and device level. This purpose-built administrative visibility and control allows MSPs to provide deployment and first-call support services to their customers while having the peace-of-mind of knowing that CrashPlan’s US- and UK-based Technical Support is just a phone call away.
“CrashPlan has always had a valuable symbiotic relationship with MSPs, and the launch of this focused MSP offering as part of our larger MSP program will help these partner organizations to deliver greater value for their clients—with greater value on their side, as well,” said Everett Brooks, Director, Channel Sales at CrashPlan. “With CrashPlan for MSPs, our partners will be able to easily deliver the peace of mind of assured endpoint backup and recovery, as well as CrashPlan’s proven use cases in remote workforce data management, device migration, and disaster or ransomware recovery.”
CrashPlan® enables organizational resilience through secure, scalable, and straightforward endpoint data backup. With automatic backup and customizable file version retention, you can bounce back from any data calamity. What starts as endpoint backup and recovery becomes a solution for ransomware recovery, breaches, migrations, and legal holds. So you can work fearlessly and grow confidently. Learn more at crashplan.com or follow CrashPlan on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn
IITs vs. Industry-Sponsored Trials: Same Challenges, Different Budgets
The cost of clinical trials can range from $100,000 to well over $30 million, with significant variations based on factors such as the trial type, development phase, and focus of treatment.(2) Dr. Rajasimha explains, “The end product of an IIT is a publication, whereas, in a pharmaceutical industry-sponsored clinical trial, the end result is a marketing approval for the drug or device by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or the regulator. That’s the main difference. But operationally, the challenges are still the same, which means the budgets have to be the same — but they’re not. IITs have significantly lower budgets compared to industry-sponsored trials because there are potential revenue-generating sales soon after industry-sponsored clinical trials, or at least after phase III. IITs don’t have that. There is no immediate revenue benefit for IITs — with the exception of drug repurposing trials.”
The Real-World Significance of IITs
IITs are particularly valuable for exploring questions that fall outside the scope of pharmaceutical industry interests, such as off-label uses, comparing treatments from different companies, and assessing cost-effectiveness. The concept of repurposing drugs has emerged as a particularly viable approach in the quest to create treatments for rare diseases. A recent study revealed that 75% of the initiatives to develop repurposed drugs for rare conditions, approved between 2016 and 2020, were initiated through IITs within academic institutions.(3)
IITs represent the majority of all clinical trials conducted.(4) Currently, there are a total of 91,519 active studies.(5) The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) analyzed interventional clinical trials worldwide, using data from ClinicalTrials.gov between January 01, 2015, and December 31, 2021. This allowed them to compare IITs with industry-sponsored studies based on funding type. Their analysis covered all four phases of drug development. Phase I trials were primarily industry-sponsored (over 70%). Phase II trials were evenly split between academia and industry, while Phase III trials were nearly equal (IIT: 47%, industry: 53%). Academia predominantly sponsored Phase IV trials (75%).(6)
An investigator’s role in an IIT mirrors that of other clinical trials. Their essential duties include ensuring compliance with regulations, safeguarding subjects’ rights and safety, and managing investigational product use. Specific responsibilities encompass adhering to the investigational plan, maintaining case histories, reporting progress and safety data, obtaining informed consent, overseeing drug usage, and facilitating Institutional Review Board (IRB) reviews and FDA inspections.(7)
Leveling the Playing Field With World-Class Software Solutions
IITs are beset by the prohibitive costs of clinical research, particularly broad-ranging monitoring processes that focus on irrelevant details.(4) Ongoing challenges to this invaluable research include financial constraints, regulatory hurdles, staff training, limited statistical expertise, and issues with data management and medical writing. A National Institutes of Health (NIH) study suggests establishing Clinical Trials or Research Units in decentralized academic centers that would have the necessary expertise in all aspects of the design and execution of the clinical trial. They could also involve investigators in other countries as clinical trial counterparts to engage in large-scale multicentric studies.(1) IITs can take advantage of decentralized tools such as remote video, e-consent, or capturing patient-reported outcomes data remotely through mobile-friendly apps and televisits.
IITs can benefit from the same world-class trial management software utilized by industry-sponsored trials but at affordable prices. That is why Dr. Rajasimha and his team recently launched their “protocol to publication” offering centered around the J eeva™ eClinical Cloud, a purpose-built, unified SaaS platform with all the features and functionality to enable IIT hybrid or decentralized clinical trials under one login from any browser-enabled mobile device. Jeeva’s team assists academic investigator-initiated trials with study design and protocol writing, offering expert guidance and support, seamless eClinical solutions, enhanced study configuration, data management, biostatistics, and manuscript preparation.
Dr. Rajasimha attests, “Jeeva is proud to offer an affordable and comprehensive solution for academic principal investigators, supporting them from the initial protocol preparation phase to publication. Our end-to-end turnkey solution ensures a smooth and efficient workflow for investigator-initiated trials, assisting academic researchers conducting both interventional and observational cohort studies.”
To learn more about Jeeva’s cost-effective solution for IITs, visit our website https://jeevatrials.com/.
About Jeeva Informatics Solutions The personal experience of losing a child born with a rare congenital disorder and a brother with a chronic disease became the springboard for Dr. Harsha Rajasimha to apply his years of postdoctoral research experience at the NIH and FDA to accelerate therapies for rare and common conditions. He founded Jeeva with the mission of lowering the cost of drug development and accelerating the speed of clinical trials by purpose-building a modern technology platform that empowers sponsors to run clinical trials, with fewer fragmented systems, fewer employees, with significantly less burden on clinical researchers and patients, which has allowed for a more globally diverse population to access clinical trials remotely.
Today the Jeeva eClinical Trial platform supports sponsors and CROs across the globe helping reduce the logistical burdens on patients and study teams by over 70%. Its complete suite of technology supports fully decentralized and hybrid clinical trials and has resulted in being selected by research hospitals, CROs, and sponsors developing pioneering therapeutics such as Frantz Viral Therapeutics and ImmunoACT. The Virginia-based company’s modular cloud-resident software-as-a-service is highly scalable and facilitates patient enrollment, engagement, and evidence generation in clinical trials from one login from any browser-enabled mobile device. Visit https://jeevatrials.com/
References 1. Konwar, Mahanjit, et al. “Investigator-Initiated Studies: Challenges and Solutions.” Perspectives in Clinical Research, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2018, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6176691/. 2. V. “What Should Be Included in a Clinical Trial Budget for 2022.” Mosio, 10 June 2022, mosio.com/clinical-trial-budget/. 3. Aacute;lamo, Marta del, et al. “Identifying Obstacles Hindering the Conduct of Academic-Sponsored Trials for Drug Repurposing on Rare-Diseases: An Analysis of Six Use Cases – Trials.” BioMed Central, BioMed Central, 15 Sept. 2022, trialsjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13063-022-06713-y. 4. Buyse, Marc, et al. “Central Statistical Monitoring of Investigator-Led Clinical Trials in Oncology.” International Journal of Clinical Oncology, U.S. National Library of Medicine, July 2020, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7308734/. 5. CTG Labs – NCBI, clinicaltrials.gov/search?aggFilters=funderType%3Anih+fed+other%2Cstatus%3Anot+rec+act+enr. Accessed 7 Sept. 2023. 6. Hoffmann, Jean-Marc, et al. “Academic Clinical Trials: Publication of Study Results on an International Registry-We Can Do Better!” Frontiers in Medicine, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 24 Nov. 2022, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9729766/. 7. Meghan Hosely, Marketing Copywriter. “Beginner’s Guide to Investigator-Initiated Trials.” Advarra, 31 Oct. 2022, advarra.com/blog/beginners-guide-to-investigator-initiated-trials/.
Media Contact
Karla Jo Helms, JOTO PR™, 727-777-4619, [email protected], jotopr.com
ACW encourages women to go on record supporting the ACW Advocacy Pledge by signing its pledge page. In addition, the association encourages visitors to nominate women who are “living the pledge.”
Hunt, the Big Impact Winner for Q2 2023, was nominated by Molly Codd, Channel Manager at Innovative Business Solutions.
“[Holly] has been an amazing support system and leader for me and many other women around us,” said Codd. “Whenever I have a complex issue or need sound advice, I can call or email Holly; she is always there to help find a solution. She is truly a shining star and a fantastic example of ACW and what it stands for! Holly has been my mentor since I came over to Innovative, which is a little over a year! She has taken me under her wing and provided sound advice, helping me get involved with ACW, where I’ve started a local chapter. She has helped me gain confidence in myself and being a woman in this very male-dominated industry. Which I believe we are changing!”
“She continues to support women from all areas. She is part of the ACW community and serves on the Communications Committee. She organizes and plans events and inspires others to join. She is a mentor to many other women in our industry. She has a podcast and continues to be a shining bright star for women in the channel and out.”
Founded in 2010, the Alliance of Channel Women is a not-for-profit organization of women in the indirect sales channel of the telecom and IT industry. The Alliance of Channel Women brings us together to empower and advance women’s careers and leadership roles in the technology channel through education, community, advocacy and opportunities for personal growth. To learn more and to become a member, please visit http://www.allianceofchannelwomen.org.
NMSN chose Ms. Hill to receive this prestigious honor in recognition of her significant contributions to the mission success of the U.S. Navy through her distinguished career in the defense industry. Throughout her 36 years with global aerospace and defense technology company Lockheed Martin, Ms. Hill has directly supported many vital U.S. naval weapons systems programs. She has also demonstrated a noteworthy commitment to uplifting others as a mentor and tireless advocate for science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education and other philanthropic programs that empower people from all backgrounds to succeed personally and professionally.
“VADM Gravely had an extraordinary career of selfless service to our country,” said Ms. Hill. “He has served as an inspiration for generations of sailors and civilians alike, including me. Thank you to the leadership of the NMSN for this incredible honor, and for keeping VADM Gravely’s remarkable legacy alive.”
The award will be presented to Ms. Hill during the NMSN’s Annual Freedom of the Seas Gala on Oct. 21 at the museum aboard the decommissioned USS IOWA (BB-61), which is moored in the Port of Los Angeles.
“Stephanie Hill’s commitment to supporting our nation’s sailors, as well as her career and personal achievements, have been broadly recognized nationwide,” said NMSN Board Chairman RADM Mike Shatynski, USN (Ret.). “She represents the profound and lasting impact VADM Gravely had within our great U.S. Navy and on our wonderful nation. We can’t think of a more worthy recipient.”
“Stephanie Hill is the living embodiment of VADM Gravely’s legacy,” NMSN Board Member and Chair of the Awards Committee Tanya Acker added. “We are excited to honor her and thrilled to have her as part of our museum family.”
During her tenure with Lockheed Martin, Ms. Hill has held positions of increasing responsibility, including senior vice president of Enterprise Business Transformation; deputy executive vice president of RMS; senior vice president of Corporate Strategy and Business Development; vice president and general manager of Cyber, Ships and Advanced Technologies; vice president and general manager of the Information Systems and Global Solutions Civil business; vice president of Corporate Internal Audit; and vice president and general manager of the Mission Systems and Sensors business.
Ms. Hill currently leads Rotary and Mission Systems (RMS), one of Lockheed Martin’s business areas that generates more than $16 billion in revenue and employs over 35,000 people globally. RMS enables key customer missions ranging from the seafloor to space and supports the six service branches of the United States Armed Forces and the Missile Defense Agency, as well as intelligence, civil, commercial and international military customers.
Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Ms. Hill graduated with high honors from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, with a bachelor of science degree in computer science and economics. She received an honorary doctorate from the university in 2017 and serves on its board of visitors.
Ms. Hill is a member of the board of directors of business intelligence company S&P Global, and Project Lead the Way – a national nonprofit that promotes PreK-12 STEM education.
The annual Freedom of the Seas Awards event is held in honor of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, considered to be the largest naval battle of World War II. Attendance at the award event, which is by invitation only, includes top leaders from the education, veteran, community, industry, government, and military sectors. For information on sponsorship opportunities, contact Kyle Aube, Director of Development at [email protected].
NMSN operates as a 501(c)(3) educational foundation promoting freedom of the seas and the important role America’s Surface Navy has played in that endeavor. The primary focus of the museum is on community, education, military, and veterans. For more information, visit https://surfacenavymuseum.org, or follow them on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.
About the Freedom of the Seas Awards
The Freedom of the Seas Awards is the premiere annual event of the National Museum of the Surface Navy at the Battleship IOWA. The event is held in honor of the anniversary of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the largest naval battle in the history of the world, which occurred during World War II. The Awards honors those that embody the core principles of the American Surface Navy’s mission to protect and defend our oceans for the benefit of the free world.
About the National Museum of the Surface Navy
Scheduled to open in 2025 aboard the historic Battleship USS Iowa Museum, the National Museum of the Surface Navy is the museum for America’s Surface Navy. The museum’s mission is to raise America’s awareness of the importance of the United States Surface Naval Forces’ role in international relations, free trade, humanitarian assistance, and technological innovation, not just in the past but today and into the future.
Located in the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro, Calif., Battleship USS Iowa Museum is one of the top five museums and attractions in Los Angeles, bringing the ship’s history to life through in-person and virtual tours and educational programs for youth. In addition to providing a natural platform for veterans and patriotic civilians to come together as a community, Battleship USS Iowa Museum provides a wide array of impactful programs and resources that support the critical needs of our military and veterans.
“We launched our first breathable mesh crib liner in 2002 and for nearly two decades have studied infant breathing, even working with researchers to build infant breathing mannikins similar to the crash test dummy in the automobile industry. As a result, we’ve obtained numerous utility and design patents for innovation,” said the CEO of BreathableBaby Jen Loesch. “After nearly 20 years of selling our mesh crib liners to fit other manufacturer’s slatted cribs, we took matters into our own hands. We applied our breathability know-how to make a product that truly prevents arms and legs from becoming trapped between slats. Whether using our breathable mesh cribs, our mesh crib liners on another manufacturer’s crib, or any of our other products, we are dedicated to helping little ones and their parents get a more peaceful night’s sleep.”
BreathableBaby’s innovative, patent-pending Breathable™ Mesh Cribs are independently safety tested to comply with not only stringent mandatory standards for cribs but also relevant play yard safety specifications. The Breathable Mesh 3-in-1 Convertible Crib, 2-in-1 Mini Crib, Portable Sleeper, and more can be found online in the U.S. at Amazon.com, Wayfair, Walmart, Target, and select specialty retailers. In Canada, select designs can be found at Amazon.ca,
DearbornBaby.com, and SnuggleBugz.ca. They will soon be available on Amazon.com.mx.
About BreathableBaby, LLC
In 2002 BreathableBaby invented the breathable mesh crib liner—the original mesh liner with millions sold worldwide. This game-changing alternative to padded bumpers set the bar in breathability. And that was just the beginning. Safety became first, last, and everything in between. In 2020, the company leveraged its heritage of scientific research to expand its reach and make kids’ products safer through science—one category at a time. With a focus on eliminating chemicals from little loved ones’ environments, they expanded their family of brands with PurePail in diapering and BB&CO in care and cleaning. Learn more on breathablebaby.com, bbcokids.com, or purepail.com.
“We are very excited to bring Kevin onboard,” said Young. “He is a visionary with a success rate to back up his bold plans, as evidenced by his remarkable track record in growing annual recurring revenue, client numbers, and client satisfaction.”
McDonald has held executive positions in operations, client management, product strategy and business development at leading healthcare companies including HMS, Cotiviti and Discovery Health Partners. Most recently he served as Chief Growth Officer for two venture capital backed startups bringing innovative solutions to healthcare payers.
McDonald received a BA and an MBA from Union College in Schenectady, NY, and has been a featured speaker at several healthcare conferences.
About MedReview
Headquartered in the financial district of New York City and serving all U.S. states and territories, MedReview has been a leading provider of payment integrity, utilization management, and quality surveillance services for more than 40 years. A physician-led organization with a passion for ensuring that health care claims fairly represent the care provided, MedReview provides timely independent hospital billing audits and DRG clinical validation reviews on behalf of health plans, government agencies, and Taft-Hartley organizations, saving millions of dollars for its clients each year. For more information, please visit http://www.medreview.us.
Sandra Kirkwood of TruBlue of Olmsted Falls & Avon, echoes this sentiment. “It’s not uncommon for seniors to be at home and do things they shouldn’t because they don’t have anyone to help,” she said. “If you break your hip, fall prevention becomes extremely crucial. We aim to be the cushion that prevents such catastrophic events from happening.”
As part of the ‘Grab the Bar’ initiative targeting fall prevention and senior bathroom safety, Close the Gap in Senior Care has allocated 100 free grab bar installations to TruBlue for September. “Since September is Fall Prevention Month, it felt like a natural pairing to partner with TruBlue since it would allow us to expand the reach of our mission to allow seniors to age safely in their own homes,” said Deborah Chaney of the nonprofit. Anyone can nominate a deserving senior in their community for this valuable service through the end of the month (or while supplies last) by visiting CloseTheGapInSeniorCare.org. All nominees will receive a free Senior Home Safety Assessment by a Certified Senior Home Safety Specialist — a $199 value. Seniors who are selected will have grab bars, installed in their homes by their local TruBlue franchise free of charge, helping to address other home modification needs.
“I was drawn to TruBlue’s mission of helping seniors, and this campaign allows us to do just that,” said Kear. “To date, we’ve probably helped around 20 to 30 people in San Antonio alone. That may seem like a small number, but for each individual and family, it’s life-changing. We encourage you to nominate seniors in your service area. This initiative is about more than just installing grab bars; it’s about creating a lasting impact and offering peace of mind.”
TruBlue is dedicated to providing a complete range of home care services, from routine maintenance to full-scale renovations. The Fall Prevention campaign underscores the brand’s commitment to create safer, more accessible homes, particularly for seniors who wish to age in place.
“Being part of TruBlue allows us to touch a lot more clientele,” said Kirkwood. “My mission and passion in life is to help as many people as I can stay in their home safe and sound. TruBlue allows us to do that. We have an opportunity every day to educate people, whether younger or older, about staying safe and maintaining the home they have worked hard for. It feels very fulfilling to be a part of TruBlue. At the end of the day, we have impacted many people’s lives in a very positive way.”
Overall, TruBlue understands the severe impact a fall can have on an individual and their family. It affects seniors not just physically but also mentally with their confidence and independence. “Our campaign promotes awareness and provides practical solutions, from home modifications by installing grab bars, to education about common risk factors in the home,” said Sean Fitzgerald, TruBlue’s President. “This campaign embodies our commitment to enrich the lives of those we serve, fostering a safe and secure living environment for every individual.”
TruBlue Home Service Ally® provides a unique and affordable approach to helping busy adults and seniors live a worry-free life by offering trustworthy handyman, home maintenance and senior modification services. Helping you maintain your home both inside and out, TruBlue’s services include handyman projects and to-do list chores, preventative home maintenance programs, seasonal work, and senior modification services, all handled by a professional, bonded and insured Tru-Pro® Technician. TruBlue franchise owners are required to complete the Senior Home Safety Specialist certification program through Age Safe America. As certified specialists, TruBlue franchisees are able to perform aging in place home safety assessments and can make recommended safety modifications as needed.
About Close the Gap
Close the Gap in Senior Care is a 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit organization that works to provide education and assistance for individuals looking to age in place safely. Their vision is to bring communities together to identify and address gaps in senior care. Their current initiative, Grab the Bars, aims to prevent senior falls at home. Not surprisingly, 80% of senior falls happen in the bathroom, but many of these falls could have been prevented with education and simple safety devices — saving money, dignity and even lives of seniors across the country. Close the Gap is encouraging everyone to donate today to help keep more seniors safe or nominate a senior in need to receive grab bars through their website: https://closethegapinseniorcare.org/
In January 2022, the Lung Cancer Action Network (LungCAN) took action by forming a dedicated Steering Committee of passionate advocates led by Jill Morningstar, a strong advocate with Capitol Hill experience, along with her husband Al Fitzpayne, a lung cancer survivor. The committee developed a strategic plan to increase the LCRP budget, aiming to allocate funding based on the amount needed to support top-rated research proposals from the previous year.
A major obstacle faced by lung cancer advocacy organizations was the lack of a unified web-based platform for contacting members of Congress. To address this challenge, LungCAN, acting as a neutral entity, created a platform that allowed members to direct their constituents to the LungCAN “Call to Action” website without the risk of losing organizational support. Through this platform, the lung cancer advocacy community joined forces, speaking with one voice to advocate for increased lung cancer research funding. The efforts yielded remarkable results:
The LCRP received a 25 percent increase in funding, receiving a record-breaking $25 million, the highest amount the program has ever been awarded.
The LCRP was the only CDMRP cancer program to receive an increase in funding.
Strategic social media engagement garnered a remarkable 55,000 combined impressions and 33.3 percent engagement on Twitter.
Approximately 1,847 individuals participated in the effort, reaching more than 400 legislators.
Advocates sent over 5,541 letters to legislators requesting $60 million for the LCRP through the LungCAN platform, lungcan.org/act.
Additional emails from advocates through GO2 and LUNGevity platforms exceeded 4,000.
A House “Dear Colleague” letter received more than 50 co-signers, the highest number ever.
The campaign garnered support from 80 associations and organizations, growing beyond Congress.
“This historic success highlights the power of unity and collaboration among lung cancer advocacy organizations,” said Dusty Donaldson, representing Lung Cancer Action Network. “By joining forces and speaking with one voice, we were able to secure increased funding for lung cancer research, which is essential in advancing our fight against this devastating disease.”
This project was a component of the LungCAN Advocacy Media Training project, funded by Lung Ambition Alliance, comprising AstraZeneca, Guardant Health, International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer, and the Global Lung Cancer Coalition.
About the IASLC: The International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) is the only global organization dedicated solely to the study of lung cancer and other thoracic malignancies. Founded in 1974, the association’s membership includes more than 8,000 lung cancer specialists across all disciplines in over 100 countries, forming a global network working together to conquer lung and thoracic cancers worldwide. The association also publishes the Journal of Thoracic Oncology, the primary educational and informational publication for topics relevant to the prevention, detection, diagnosis, and treatment of all thoracic malignancies. Visit http://www.iaslc.org for more information.
About the WCLC: The WCLC is the world’s largest meeting dedicated to lung cancer and other thoracic malignancies, attracting more than 7,000 researchers, physicians, and specialists from more than 100 countries. The goal is to increase awareness, collaboration, and understanding of lung cancer, and to help participants implement the latest developments across the globe. The conference will cover a wide range of disciplines and unveil several research studies and clinical trial results. For more information, visit https://wclc2023.iaslc.org.
