SfN Receives Research!America Advocacy Award
During Research!America’s annual Advocacy Awards Dinner on March 11, the Society for Neuroscience received the 2015 Paul G. Rogers Distinguished Organization Advocacy Award in recognition of the Society’s leadership as an advocate for medical, health, and scientific research. Each year, Research!America (R!A) honors “exemplary leaders in medical and health research advocacy who have advanced our nation's commitment to research.”
SfN President Steven Hyman accepted the award on behalf of the Society. “In some ways the foundation for this award began with the founding of the Society in 1969,” Hyman said. “In a way that was very forward-looking, those neuroscientists who founded the Society made public outreach and advocacy a fundamental aspect of the Society’s mission.”
Hyman also noted that the award recognizes a long-standing advocacy partnership between SfN and R!A. He praised R!A for its leadership in bringing together diverse communities to effectively communicate as one voice about the importance of strong investments to advance science and improve health.
The Paul G. Rogers Distinguished Organization Advocacy Award honors SfN’s efforts in advocating for robust science funding to advance science and health, and for policies that support responsible animal research. SfN partners with national, transnational, and international societies to promote neuroscience advocacy across the globe. Through SfN’s Advocacy Network, members can stay informed and take action on the many issues that affect neuroscience research. SfN also provides tools and resources to help members engage with policy leaders.
“As a Society, we are absolutely dedicated to making sure that we can effectively find the funds both to make new discoveries and to translate them,” Hyman said.
Others honored at the dinner included U.S. Reps. Fred Upton (R-MI) and Diana DeGette (D-CO); Robin Roberts, anchor of ABC’s Good Morning America; Mike Milken, chairman of the Milken Institute and founder of FasterCures; Kenneth Olden, director of the EPA’s National Center for Environmental Assessment; and David Van Andel and George Vande Woude of the Van Andel Institute, which recruits top scientists for basic as well as translational research.
In her weekly advocacy message following the dinner, R!A President Mary Woolley stated that SfN and the other winners were honored “not only for what they have accomplished, sometimes against formidable odds, but also for their ongoing commitment to research and to advocacy for research. All of us draw from their strength.”
