CDMRP Has Many Supporters, Including DAV

June 8, 2011

Chairman Bill Young --  Ranking Member Norm Dicks
Subcommittee on Defense Appropriations
H-140, the Capitol --  1016 Longworth HOB
Washington, D.C. 20515 -- Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Chairman Young and Ranking Dicks:

As you prepare for the full committee markup of the fiscal year 2012 Defense Appropriations Act, we write to thank you for including $223 million for cancer research in the bill. We are hopeful that this life-saving cancer research funding as well as the funding for other medical research will remain in the bill after the full committee markup.

Should there be efforts during the full committee markup to strip funding for the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) from the bill, the undersigned organizations respectfully request that you oppose such attempts and demonstrate your continued support for the funding.

Funding for the CDMRP is an opportunity to advance the best research to eradicate diseases and support the warfighter for the benefit of the American public. These research programs target diseases that impact directly the welfare of the American military, their families and the public. For example, CDMRP supports medical research on several forms of cancer (breast, blood, colorectal, melanoma, pediatric, brain, lung, ovarian, and prostate) and other diseases (like neurofibromatosis and bone marrow failure) that have lead to breakthroughs on nerve regeneration and traumatic brain injury. The CDMRP also funds research on Gulf War Illness, psychological health, spinal cord injury, and hearing and vision loss (which comprise a significant portion of current battlefield injuries). Other activities target diseases and conditions such as Lupus, Multiple Sclerosis, Scleroderma, ALS, and Autism.

The programs also represent a unique partnership among the public, Congress, and the military. The Department of Defense’s CDMRP supports high-quality medical research, concentrating its resources on research mechanisms which complement rather than duplicate the research approaches of the major funders of medical research in the United States. Although the diseases included in this program are diverse, the research on these disease types is often synergistic. For example, investigators increasingly look at the molecular profiles of cancer, often finding connections across cancers affecting different body sites. Advances or progress related to one cancer fuels the research on the other cancers in this program, and treatments initially approved for one cancer are routinely found to be effective in others.

The undersigned respectfully request your continued support for fiscal year 2012 funding of all programs within CDMRP.

Sincerely,

The ALS Association
American Academy of Dermatology Association
American Association for Cancer Research
American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network
American College of Gastroenterology
American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer
American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG)
American Gastroenterological Association
American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy
The American Legion
Aplastic Anemia & MDS International Foundation
Arkansas Ovarian Cancer Coalition
Arkansas Prostate Cancer Foundation
Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum
Association of American Cancer Institutes
Autism Speaks
Cancer Support Community
Caring Together, Inc.
Celma Mastry Foundation for Ovarian Cancer Research Inc.
Charlene Miers Foundation for Cancer Research
Children’s Cause for Cancer Advocacy
Children's Tumor Foundation
Chris4Life
Colon Cancer Alliance
Colon Cancer STARS
Colorado Ovarian Cancer Alliance
CureSearch for Children's Cancer
Disabled American Veterans
Fight Colorectal Cancer
Friends of Cancer Research
FORCE: Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered
Georgia Ovarian Cancer Alliance, Inc.
Get Your Rear In Gear
GRACE'S
HERA Women's Cancer Foundation
Hope for Heather
ICAN - International Cancer Advocacy Network
Intercultural Cancer Council Caucus
International Myeloma Foundation
Kaleidoscope of Hope Foundation
Kidney Cancer Association
Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
Linda Young Ovarian Cancer Support Program, Benedictine Hospital
LIVESTRONG
Lung Cancer Alliance
Lupus Foundation of America, Inc.
Lymphoma Research Foundation
Malecare Cancer Support
Melanoma Research Foundation
Men's Health Network
Minnesota Ovarian Cancer Alliance, Inc.
MIOCA (Michigan Ovarian Cancer Alliance)
Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation
National Alliance of State Prostate Cancer Coalitions (NASPCC)
National Brain Tumor Society
National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship
National Lung Cancer Partnership
National Marrow Donor Program
National Multiple Sclerosis Society
National Patient Advocate Foundation
Neurofibromatosis, Inc. Arizona
Neurofibromatosis, Inc. California
Neurofibromatosis Midwest
Neurofibromatosis, Inc., Network
Neurofibromatosis, Inc., Northeast
NF Inc. Minnesota
NF, Inc. Michigan
Nine Girls Ask
OASIS of Southern California
Olympus America Inc.
Oncology Nursing Society
Ovacome Ovarian Cancer Support and Advocacy of Tampa Bay
Ovar’Coming Together
Ovarian and Breast Cancer Alliance of Washington State
Ovarian Awareness of Kentucky
Ovarian Cancer Advocacy Alliance
Ovarian Cancer Alliance of Arizona
Ovarian Cancer Alliance of California
Ovarian Cancer Alliance of Florida
Ovarian Cancer Alliance of Greater Cincinnati
Ovarian Cancer Alliance of North Florida, Inc.
Ovarian Cancer Alliance of Ohio
Ovarian Cancer Alliance of Oregon and Southwest Washington
Ovarian Cancer Coalition of Greater California
Ovarian Cancer National Alliance
Ovarian Cancer Orange County Alliance
Prevent Cancer Foundation
Preventing Colorectal Cancer.Org
Prostate Cancer Foundation
Prostate Cancer International
Prostate Conditions Education Council
R.O.A.R.!
Sandy Rollman Ovarian Cancer Foundation, Inc.
Sarcoma Foundation of America
SHARE: Self-Help for Women with Breast or Ovarian Cancer
Society for Gastroenterology Nurses and Associates (SGNA)
Society of Gynecologic Oncology
The Teal Tea Foundation
Teal Tulips (formerly R.O.C.C.S.)
Texas Neurofibromatosis Foundation
Tuberous Sclerosis Alliance
United Ostomy Associations of America
Us TOO International
Us TOO - Richmond , Va Group
Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA)
Virginia Prostate Cancer Coalition
Washington State Neurofibromatosis Families
Wisconsin Ovarian Cancer Alliance
Women Against Prostate Cancer
Women’s Cancer Awareness Group
Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization
You'll Never Walk Alone
ZERO — The Project to End Prostate Cancer

CDMRP Survives House Approp’s Committee – but Many Health Research Programs Would be Cut by 20 Percent

 

The full House Appropriations Committee met today to markup the FY12 Defense Appropriations bill.  

Despite many rumors that the acclaimed Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP) would be eliminated, there were no CDMRP-related amendments during today’s markup. 

DAV members may recall the exceptional presentation on the program by senior CDMRP staff member Dr. J.B. Phillips at last year’s DAV Fall Conference.

It is certainly possible that all the Hill advocacy by dozens of health organizations over the last several weeks – including DAV’s legislative staff -- made the difference in preventing that.

However, under the House plan, there would be many changes to the previously successful CDMRP programs.  The final FY12 Defense Appropriations Bill as recommended by the Full Committee included the following:

1.      Several existing CDMRP programs would not be funded at all: most notably the sort of catch-all Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program; Neurofibromatosis; Pain Management; Global Deployment of the Force medical research; Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine; and SBIR to the core funded RDT&E.

2.      Two programs with the most direct military relevance would see 25% increased funding: Traumatic Brain Injury and Psychological Health (increased from $100m to $125m); Orthopedic (from $24m to $30m).

3.      Three new programs were created: Hemorrhage Control; Restorative Transplantation; and, a Joint Warfighter Medical Research Program -- totaling $75m.

4.      The other 17 programs funded in FY11 would be continued but cut by 20%. Despite the most direct military relevance, these included Spinal Cord Injury, Vision, Gulf War Illness, and Alcohol and Substance Abuse Disorders.

FY11 appropriations first, followed by the FY 12 Full Appropriations Committee Bill Recommended Amounts:

1.      ALS $8,000 -- $6,400
2.      Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine $4,800 -- -0-
3.      Autism Research $6,400 -- $5,100
4.      Bone Marrow Failure Disease Research Program $4,000 -- $3,200
5.      Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy $4,000 -- $3,200
6.      Global HIV/AIDS Prevention $10,000 -- $8,000
7.      Traumatic Brain Injury and Psychological Health $100,000 -- $125,000
8.      Global Deployment of the Force medical research funding -Department of Defense requested transfer to maintain full funding for the program $125,000 -- -0-
9.      Gulf War Illness Peer-Reviewed Research Program $8,000 -- $6,400
10.     Multiple Sclerosis $4,800 -- $3,200
11.     Peer-Reviewed Alzheimer Research $15,000 -- $12,000
12.     Peer-Reviewed Breast Cancer Research Program $150,000 -- $120,000
13.     Peer-Reviewed Cancer Research Program $16,000 -- $12,800
14.     Peer-Reviewed Lung Cancer Research Program $12,800 -- $10,200
15.     Peer-Reviewed Orthopedic Research Program $24,000 -- $30,000
16.     Peer-Reviewed Ovarian Cancer Research Program $20,000 -- $16,000
17.     Peer Reviewed Vision research in conjunction with the DoD Vision Center of Excellence $4,000 -- $3,200
18.     Peer-Reviewed Prostate Cancer Research Program $80,000 -- $64,000
19.     Peer-Reviewed Spinal Cord Research Program $12,000 -- $9,600
20.     Research in Alcohol and Substance Use Disorders $5,200 -- $4,500
21.     SBIR to the core funded RDT&E $1,200 -- -0-
22.     Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC) $6,400 -- $5,100
23.     Pain Management Task Force Research $4,000 -- -0-
24.     Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program $50,000 -- -0-
25.     Neurofibromatosis Research $16,000 -- -0-

New for FY12:

1.      Hemorrhage Control -- $10,000
2.      Joint Warfighter Medical Research Program -- $50,000
3.      Restorative Transplantation Research Program -- $15,000

**UPDATE from Katie Weyforth Vanlandingham of Van Scoyoc Associates:  Neurofibromatosis was funded (located in a different part of the bill than the other programs) and like most of the other CDMRP programs took at 20% cut from FY11. The Peer-reviewed medical research program is usually only funded in the Senate bill (and then ends up in the conference report) because they do not individually fund most of the CDMRP programs in their bill.
--

Anthony Hardie
Madison, Wis.

DAV-Wis. Press Release: Wisconsin at DAV National Mid-Winter Conference and on the Hill

With many new members of Congress, it’s “Back to the Basics” for DAV

(Green Bay, Wis. – March 16, 2011) - Over 600 national leaders were in attendance at the Disabled American Veterans 2011 Mid-Winter Conference held at the Marriott Crystal Gateway in Arlington, Virginia, February 27 - March 2, 2011, who then took to Capitol Hill to inform and advocate on behalf of the nation’s veterans, particularly its disabled veterans.

Included in the huge national leadership meeting of the nation’s largest wartime service-disabled veterans’ organization were Department of Wisconsin leaders John Hoeft, State Commander; Kevin (KC) Johnson, State Senior Vice Commander; Al Labelle, State Judge Advocate; Clarence Stoel, State Legislative Director; Richard Marbes, State Treasurer; Roger Dorman, Service Director; Stephen Leopold, State Legal Advisor; John Kleindienst, Milwaukee National Service Office (NSO) Supervisor; Derrick Williams, Milwaukee NSO Assistant Supervisor; Charles Vandenplas, VAVS Chairman; and Anthony Hardie, State Special Assistant.

Marbes is a past DAV National Commander. Vandenplas is also 12^th District Representative on DAV’s National Executive Committee. The 12^th District is comprised of the Departments of Illinois and Wisconsin. Labelle is a member of DAV’s national Interim Legislative Committee. Hardie is a National Deputy Chief of Staff for 2010-11.

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki was the Conference’s keynote speaker, which opened with a business session, followed by numerous workshops intended to further develop DAV’s leadership, legislative, and communications capacities, among many others.

The Conference culminated with National Commander Wallace E. (Wally) Tyson’s presentation of DAV’s 2011 legislative program to a joint session of the U.S. Senate and House veterans’ affairs committees, which was attended by an overflow crowd of enthusiastic DAV members from Wisconsin and across the country.

Since the 112^th Congress has 103 new members, many with little or no legislative experience, a major emphasis of the presentation was Who and What We Are.

“It was DAV 101 and Legislation 101,” said State Judge Advocate Al Labelle.

In the last Congress, the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs was comprised of 29 members, with only 12 members reelected. For DAV, making inroads and achieving legislative successes with the new Congress – including the 17 new members on the House veterans’ affairs committee – means it will be “back to the basics” of informing new members not only about DAV’s legislative priorities, but who DAV is and what it means to be a service-disabled wartime veteran.

DAV’s Department of Wisconsin leaders aimed directly at every member of Wisconsin’s 10-member Congressional delegation to help achieve DAV’s national legislative goals with a formal group presentation and individual office meetings.

DAV-Wis. leaders developed and delivered a formal group presentation of DAV’s national legislative program to the offices of U.S. Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI) (Harry Stein, Carolyn Appel); Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) (Alian Elias); Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI-01) (Martin Skold); Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (D-WI-02) (Amber Shipley); and, Congressman Ron Kind (D-WI-03) (Kevin Warnke).

DAV-Wis. leaders also had quite a number of personal meetings with Wisconsin Congressional offices, including meeting personally with Sen. Ron Johnson, Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin, and Congressman Reid Ribble (R-WI-08), and in separate private meetings with the offices of Congressman Ryan (Martin Skold); Congressman Congresswoman Gwen Moore (D-WI-04) (Eyang Nyambi Garrison); Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI-05) (Joshua Ledden); Congressman Tom Petri (R-WI-06) (Meagan McCanna); Congressman Sean Duffy (R-WI-07) (Jenifer Nawrocki); and Congressman Ribble (Paul Bleiberg).

Key meetings were also held with the integral House Budget Committee’s Professional Staff and with the offices of Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and senior Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee member Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), all of whom left well acquainted with and enthusiastic about the Independent Budget and military medical health research funding issues.

More information on the Independent Budget, DAV’s 2011 Legislative Program, and DAV national concerns is available on the DAV-Wis. website at www.davwi.org/government-relations. More information on the Conference, including Secretary Shinseki’s comments, will be published in the May-June issue of the DAV Magazine.

Dr. Phillips, DoD Presenter at DAV Fall Conference, Responds to Veteran Interest in PTSD Clinical Trials

-----Original Message-----
From: Phillips, James B Dr DoD Af US USA MEDCOM CDMRP
Sent: Wednesday, October 20, 2010 2:40 PM
To:'
Subject: RE: Help from the DAV Fall Conference (UNCLASSIFIED)

Classification:  UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

Hi,

Nice hearing from you and I enjoyed meeting you and many others veterans
at the conference.  I just returned to work after being out earlier this
week.  I have talked to a couple of folks in my office and I don't
believe my office is funding clinical trials for PTSD in Wisconsin close
to you. However I found some clinical trials through my search on
internet.

I mentioned the website http://www.clinicaltrials.gov when we spoke and
I just did a search for condition "PTSD" in "Wisconsin."  I found 4
trials actively recruiting patients.  I have listed them below and I
recommend that you go the website I mention above and search yourself.
If you are willing to travel to Illinois, Michigan or other states then
you can search those states as well.  My office is funding PTSD clinical
trials but they are not in Wisconsin.

Let me know if you have more questions or if I can help you navigate the
clinical trials website.  Feel free to call my office too.

Best regards, "JB" Phillips, Ph.D.

Science Officer
Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs
U.S. Army Medical Research and Material Command
1077 Patchel Street, Fort Detrick, MD 21702
TEL 301-619-7071 FAX 301-619-7796

1) Prazosin and Combat Trauma PTSD (PACT)
William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital, Madison
Madison, Wisconsin, United States, 53705
Contact: Eileen Ahearn, MD     608-280-7015     Eileen.Ahearn@va.gov

2) Enhancing Equitable and Effective (E-3) Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder (PTSD) Disability Assessment (E-3 PTSD)
Zablocki VA Medical Center, Milwaukee
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, 53295-1000
Contact: Mitzi Dearborn, PhD     414-384-2000 ext 41674
mitzi.dearborn@va.gov

3) Comparison of Videoconference and Face-to-Face Delivery of Cognitive
Processing Therapy for PTSD
Wm. S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital Recruiting
Madison, Wisconsin, United States, 53705
Contact: Yanmin A Li, MBBS     608-263-4290
ali@clinicaltrials.wisc.edu
Contact: Lori Wollet, R.N     608-262-6855
lw3@clinicaltrials.wisc.edu
Principal Investigator: Tracey L Smith, Ph.D.

Comparison of Videoconference and Face-to-Face Delivery of Cognitive
Processing Therapy for PTSD
Edward J. Hines Jr. Veterans Hospital, Cares Research Foundation
Hines, Illinois, United States, 60141
Contact: Kristen Lamp, MA, LPC     708-202-8387 ext 24761
kristen.lamp@va.gov
Sub-Investigator: Kelly P Maieritsch, Ph.D.

4) Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy in Chronic Traumatic Brain Injury or
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (NBIRR-1)
Lifeforce Therapies Recruiting
Plymouth, Minnesota, United States, 55447
Contact     763-694-7000

Fox Valley Wellness Center Active, (not recruiting patients)
Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, United States, 54935