 |
 |
As a former scientist and as current PWP-advocate, I wish to thank Mary for a well-written and thought-povoking piece. Mary, by the way, what kind of work did you miss yesterday? If you had not missed it, maybe we in the PWP world would not haave received the benefits of your contribution to our discussion today. Mary, do you feel there are specific PD research topics you would like to see funded now? Ivan Suzman Portland diagonally yours from the Northeast coast! On Wed, 28 Apr 1999 00:48:15 -0700 mary yost <[log in to unmask]> writes: >Last week the President of Caltech was interviewed on public >television by >the charming Charlie Rose. He asserted that spending enormous sums >on >research is not going to bring about the results that advocacy groups >expect. His line of reasoning seemed to be that scientific >breakthroughs >depend a great deal on chance. There are just not enough young >scientists >in the pipeline to make a big push towards curing various diseases. >Discoveries will happen gradually, dependent on the number of trained >people in the research community. > >Then today the president of Intel invited himself on the same show to >give >a rebuttal. He's a prostate cancer survivor who has gone to great >lengths >to educate himself about the disease, and has been an effective >advocate >for increasing funding for research. The arguments he gave were the >same >as the ones that the Parkinson's Action Network and the Parkinson's >Alliance have prepared for us: that when the right conditions are set >up >and the key people are given the opportunity to share ideas, science >happens. It's not all serendipity. > >In the middle of the various grass roots efforts to push for a cure, >I've >always harbored a lingering doubt. What if we're so far out of synch >with >how the scientific community works that we're being ineffective, or >even >worse, that we're alienating them? > >So it was reassuring to hear the Intel president, another warm and >thoughtful Hungarian/American like our Margaret, reaffirm that we're >on the >right track. Adding up some experiences in the last few years, my >doubt is >disappearing: Morton Kondrake's powerful television essay on "the >Politics >of Medicine",and Dr. Langston last year at the PAN forum imagining a >"Manhattan Project" style effort towards curing neurological diseases. > In >February, when I described the seed money project to parkinsonologist >Dr. >Mathias Kurth at a patient workshop in Orange County, he said that if >Pennies for Parkinson's had existed when he was starting out, "it >would >have changed the course of my career. > >Today was the first day that I was too "off" to stay at my job in the >afternoon. "Fund the Research, Find a cure." I'm ready. > >Mary Yost, 51, diag. 42 >[log in to unmask] ^^^^^^ WARM GREETINGS FROM ^^^^^^^^^^^^ :-) Ivan Suzman 49/39/36 [log in to unmask] :-) Portland, Maine land of lighthouses deg. F :-) ********************************************************************