The FAIR Foundation is dedicated to fair and equitable distributions of Nation Institutes of Health (NIH) research funds for all diseases, including the sixteen that kill more Americans than AIDS.

American Diabetes Association Epidemiology Symposium Group request
for topics for 2007 Scientific Sessions and FAIR's Request to Present

From: [Council on Epidemiology and Statistics -S.Dunbar] [mailto:EPIDEMIOLOGY@LISTSERV.DIABETES.ORG] On Behalf Of Councils Councils
Sent: Thursday, July 20, 2006 6:49 AM
To: EPIDEMIOLOGY@LISTSERV.DIABETES.ORG
Subject: Planning for ADA 2007 Scientific Sessions

Dear ADA Epidemiology and Statistics Interest Group members,

Greetings from your Chair, ADA Epidemiology and Statistics Interest Group (note new name for our Council). Believe it or not, it is time to plan for next year's Annual Scientific Sessions!

I write to solicit ideas for Epidemiology Symposium, Current Issues, and Council Discussion session topics. This is your chance to have input into the epidemiology/statistics scientific program for the Annual Meeting in 2007 in Chicago. We want your ideas for topics and also for suggested speakers. What's hot? What's not? Tell us what you want to hear presented and discussed at our meeting in 2007.

Please respond at your earliest convenience, as we need to have our proposed program ready to present to the ADA leadership at the beginning of September.

Many thanks! I look forward to hearing from you,

James

--
James B Meigs MD MPH
Assistant Professor of Medicine

From: The FAIR Foundation [mailto:fair@dc.rr.com]
Sent: Friday, July 21, 2006 9:43 AM
To: 'councils@DIABETES.ORG'
Subject: RE: Planning for ADA 2007 Scientific Sessions

TO: James B Meigs, M.D., MPH; Assistant Professor of Medicine

Dear Dr. Meigs,

Please allow me to recommend a topic for the 2007 ADA Epidemiology Symposium per your request below, namely, “Ethical Issues in the allocation of Federal dollars for disease research.” This topic ties in with statistics and epidemiology well while questioning the present policies utilized in allocating funds for bio-medical research.

As the Founder and CEO of the FAIR Foundation, a national organization addressing this issue with thousands of members in all fifty States, I have given over 150 presentations nationally and I am pleased to report that post-presentation evaluations by attendees have regularly been exceptional. Pictures of me presenting to physicians at a CME course in So. Lake Tahoe can be viewed here and the course brochure is here for your review. My presentation is a powerful video produced by the ADA and ABC-TV followed by a complete PowerPoint presentation.

Although the focus of our work at the FAIR Foundation relates to NIH allocations, the recent pledge by Warren Buffet of $31 billion dollars to the $29 billion Gates Foundation, much of which will go to HIV/AIDS research, lends further credence to the need for discussion regarding the appropriateness of research allocations. This is especially relevant since ten percent of the entire NIH bio-medical research budget also goes to HIV/AIDS associated research.

Support for the FAIR Foundation is exceptionally strong among diabetics. When FAIR exhibits at ADA Expos and we point out the statistical differences in deaths, morbidity and funding for HIV disease versus diabetes in the USA (see table below), including a 97 percent decrease in the newly infected CA HIV/AIDS patient deaths, dozens upon dozens of diabetics join FAIR to bolster our call for change in NIH priorities. You may view pictures of many of them here.

Please inspect our 28-member Board of Directors consisting of eminent physicians, dentists, pharmacist, et al, and know that I would be most honored to give the FAIR Foundation presentation to your group in Chicago next year.

Richard Darling, DDS

Richard Darling, DDS: National Public Citizen of the Year (NASW-03)
President and CEO: The FAIR Foundation, a national movement to reverse inequities in research funding distributions by the National Institutes of Health
Founder: The Coachella Valley Hepatitis C, Liver Disease & Transplant Support Group
Board of Directors: United Organ Transplant Association
Author: Coma Life, an autobiographical memoir of life "within" coma and survival over hepatitis C induced liver cancer, three liver transplants, heart attack, diabetes
Address: 78629 Bougainvillea Drive, Palm Desert, CA 92211 Ph: 760-200-2766

Disease	2007 NIH Research $$	Deaths Per Disease 2004	$$ Per Patient Death	$$ Per Patient
HIV/AIDS	2.9 Billion	15,798 (a)	$ 182,807	$ 3,040
Parkinson’s Dis.	232 Million	17,898 (f)	$ 12,403	$ 148
Alzheimer’s Dis.	645 Million	63,343 (d)	$ 10,182	$ 143
Prostate Cancer	373 Million	29,578 (e)	$ 12,474	$ 133
Diabetes	1.05 Billion	73,965 (c)	$ 14,236	$ 50
Cardiovascular Dis	2.35 Billion	930,000 (b)	$ 2,523	$ 37
Hepatitis B	33 Million	5,000 (h)	$ 6,600	$ 32
Hepatitis C	122 Million	12,000 (g)	$ 10,166	$ 25
COPD *	63 Million	126,128 (i)	$ 499	$ 5
West Nile Virus	42 Million	116 (j)	$362,068	$ 14,242

** COPD = Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
NIH Orphan Drug funding of $1.2 Billion for 6000 diseases equals only $200,000, on average, for research per rare disease
Fourteen million Americans have impaired vision. 702 million is spent on "eye disease" research, which is only $50 per patient. Statistics based on information from the CDC & NIH See: http://www.fairfoundation.org/update.htm.
FAIR Foundation membership is free at http://www.fairfoundation.org/join.htm.