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(Cross-posted - feel free to copy or link to this info) Ahem! I'll NEVER forget a few years back losing a round of Jeopardy to a good friend when I couldn't name the Surgeon General! That's a highly politically influential position that all of us should know. Pending Senate approval, get familiar with these men named by Pres. Bush: Dr Richard Carmona, an Arizonia trauma surgeon, for Surgeon General; and Dr. Elias Zerhouni (better learn where those accents go!) to be the new NIH (National Institutes of Health) Director. Dr, Zerhouni is an administrator at Johns-Hopkins. Why should we know these guys? Well, the Surgeon General sets the tone for the medical and health arena as the nation's highest ranking physician. But the NIH Director has really big shoes to fill! Quoting from MSN Health, "The NIH has struggled in the two years without a director since the departure of Harold Varmus, with several top researchers leaving. Six institutes of the NIH institutes need new directors, positions that are expected to be filled once the top job is settled." ( http://www.msnbc.com/news/729721.asp ) The NIND (Nat'l Institute of Neurological Disorders) is one of those unfilled positions. The NIH Director also has to figure out how to administer more than $20 billion in grants and assure new discoveries get to patients pronto! Like it or not, politics has EVERYTHING to do with finding a cure for our diseases (and I mean ALL neurological illnesses here). As my good friend, Chy (thanks for the spelling lesson! lol) kept repeating in his theme of his Parky-Thon fund-raiser, "Discover something for one disease, and the domino effect will begin!", meaning one discovery will lead to better treatments and possibly cures for many illnesses. Yes, I've turned into a political monster - yet, I want to turn all of you readers into monsters, too. Who can tell how horrible it is to live with our diseases than we??? Answer: No one!!! I hope you don't mind me keeping you posted. Find out about these guys - Dr Zerhouni is a former radiologist and quite a research scientist. Our future lies in the hands of such positions. What will these newbies be listening for when/if they assume office? None other than the squeaky wheel of course! Make your voices heard! Peggy Willocks [log in to unmask] janet paterson: an akinetic rigid subtype, albeit perky, parky pd: 55/41/37 cd: 55/44/43 tel: 613 256 8340 email: [log in to unmask] smail: 375 Country Street, Almonte, Ontario, Canada, K0A 1A0 a new voice: http://www.geocities.com/janet313/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn