Funding Treatments and Cures: A Top Priority
The federal budget is always a big issue in D.C. (especially in an election year.)
But hopefully, despite some fierce battles as of late, both parties can agree on one thing: the need to support research.
This morning, The Oregonian published an op ed by two OHSU leaders about the need for continued federal investment in research.
An excerpt:
Cancer death rates have dropped 11.4 percent among women and 19.2 percent among men over the past 15 years because of better detection and more effective treatments. At Oregon Health & Science University, Dr. Brian Druker, director of the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute, discovered Gleevec, and now patients with chronic myeloid leukemia who once had a life expectancy of three to five years are expected to live 30 years. Gleevec’s success has since led to the development of dozens of other targeted therapies. This type of breakthrough research is supported by funding from the NIH.
The full op ed can be read here.
