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Have you seen Energy Security and Sustainability? This thread was updated by Cherisa Oct 20 2008, 11:57 AM EDT and has 2 replies.

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Sophia_Ginis

Energy Security and Sustainability

Oct 20 2008, 11:57 AM EDT by Cherisa

CatherineMitchell

Pandemic and Preparedness

Oct 17 2008, 7:01 PM EDT by Mfall

Thread started: Oct 17 2008, 1:18 PM EDT Watch

My question to both candidates and topic for discussion is...

Due to the overwhelming lack of information reaching the general public and the length of time needed to educate and inform people of the very serious nature of pandemic influenza the American citizens will not be prepared to deal with the fallout of this infectious disease. Many factors such as "just-in-time" delivery of goods, current economic realities, and lack of general preparedness will cause deaths beyond what the pandemic itself will cause. Increasingly it is becoming apparent that there exists in this country a serious digital divide. People with computers and knowledge of how to use technology have access to this information literally at their fingertips while those not utilizing technology are being left behind.

The federal government has left such decisions up to the states, the state have left such decisions up to the counties of local jurisdictions. Local jurisdictions do not have professional manning the posts in their boards of health and in rural areas they are largely not preparing due to lack of funding and the overwhelming burden of preparedness.

This is the first time that we have been able to prepare for a pandemic and I am concerned that we are losing valuable time. Pandemic Influenza typically hits hardest those with robust immune systems like children and young adults. I fear the anger of the US Citizens when they realize that they have not been given sufficient heads up in order for them to protect their children and the youth of this nation.

How will you ensure that ALL citizens of the United States, regardless of disability or other inability such as lack of access to online information, receive lifesaving preparedness information while there is still time to prepare - and not after a state of emergency has already been declared as is the current plan for many of our state and local governments?

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Sophia_Ginis

Policy Challenges

Oct 7 2008, 4:18 PM EDT by saroo

Sophia_Ginis

STEM Education

Oct 7 2008, 4:14 PM EDT by saroo

Sophia_Ginis

Innovation & Competitiveness

Sep 30 2008, 1:05 PM EDT by Dana_Davis

Sophia_Ginis

Health Policy

Sep 23 2008, 4:59 PM EDT by Dana_Davis

Thread started: Sep 4 2008, 11:03 AM EDT Watch

What should be our health care policy? And how should we be funding health related research?

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RE: Health Policy
By: Dana_Davis, Sep 23 2008, 4:59 PM EDT

I want to touch on the latter question, "how should we fund health related research?"

From the where does the money come from perspective: the federal (and state) government needs to stay heavily invested. The benefits to the tax payer are real, so I do not believe this represents a kind of "scientist welfare." The contrasting view could be to have industry be the primary investors in bio-medical research, however this carries the burden of foreseeable profits. Important research would not be done because the risk is to great, because the company already has a drug/device/etc in that area and does not want to compete with itself, because the CEO changes and so do the research approaches. Industry can be a great ally in bio-medical research but should not be the main driver.

From the what kinds of research should we fund perspective: we need to move away from the push towards, what is now called, translational research and back towards basic research. This is the research that is often referred to as bench to bedside research. The things being done in the laboratory having a direct line to the patient. While noble and easily defendable from an emotional standpoint, this approach is not a long term strategy for health related research in general. The problem is knowing what the goal is (cure for cancer) does not give you any indication on how to get there. The advantage in basic research is that you are guaranteed to generate new information, which may be used by bio-medical researchers in other areas to drive therapeutic breakthroughs or new treatment strategies. When translational research fails to deliver, you often have not generated new information. Translational research is important and necessary, but is derived from previous basic research studies. Thus, fund both but do not undercut basic research because it sounds politically appealing to fund translational research more.

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Sophia_Ginis

The Conference

Sep 23 2008, 2:17 PM EDT by Yaeg0019

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