Research!America Branches Out To States, Calls For Scientists' Aid

Scientists' Aid Research!America, an Alexandria, Va.-based national nonprofit advocacy group for biomedical research, is branching out to the states, attempting to form grass-roots support for increased federal funding. Officials of the organization are pleased with the programs' progress: Opinion polls consistently show that the public supports increased biomedical research funding. But they also maintain that the programs could use more help from scientists themselves. OPEN EYES: Student meet scientists in a special North Carolina program. Four states-Maryland, North Carolina, New York, and Kentucky-have established programs that vary in size and makeup, though the underlying message of supporting biomedical research remains unchanged. These public-awareness efforts basically consist of public-opinion polls, educational initiatives, letter-writing campaigns, and speakers' bureaus. According to Research! America president Mary Woolley, the goal of the state programs is "to get closer to the public in terms of grass-roots advocacy for research." Research!America began in 1989 when several "influential individuals decided it was time to bridge the gap between scientists and the public, ultimately to get the word to decision-makers that medical research deserved more funding," explains Woolley. Among them were various well-known supporters such as philanthropist and Albert Lasker Medical Research Awards co-creator Mary Lasker. Several of these individuals, along with foundations and organizations like the American Medical Association, contributed start-up funds. Membership currently numbers about 350, including academic and research institutions, hospitals, companies, and foundations. In 1992, Research!America launched a pilot study in Maryland to test several aspects of "a boilerplate state advocacy program," Woolley explains. The first step was a public-opinion poll "to find out people's attitudes about research and the institutions that conduct research, and the level of priority among citizens," she says. "It's difficult to connect with people unless you have some baseline." Maryland was chosen as the first spin-off program because of its proximity to the main group's headquarters and because a Research!America board member had close ties there, according to Woolley. Research! America conducted a media campaign in Maryland to interest reporters in covering news and feature stories about biomedical research in the state. It developed a program, "scientists in the schools," in which scientists volunteered to visit students to talk about potential careers in science and medicine. The Maryland project, designed as a temporary initiative, has since ended. The North Carolina effort, which got off the ground in 1993, took its cue from Maryland's success. Research!America contacted state research leaders and proposed a media campaign emphasizing the importance of medical research to North Carolina's economy. Later that year, Research!North Carolina was established as a part of the Raleigh-based North Carolina Association for Biomedical Research (NCABR). SCIENCE-SAVVY: NCABR's Karen Hoffman oversees a science teathcer-training program. NCABR president Karen Hoffman notes that North Carolina was a natural for a Research!America state campaign, given the concentration of university and industry research in the Research Triangle Park area. The association lists 27 "members and supporters" and more than 125 individuals as participants. The program boasts several successful educational efforts, according to Hoffman. For example, in two years its teacher-training program reached some 900 elementary and secondary teachers with an interest in science. Scientist-led workshops provided teachers with overviews of biomedical research, in which the benefits of research were discussed and primers on current investigations and various scientific techniques were offered. Lesson plans were distributed as well. BACK TO SCHOOL: New York's Leslie Goldman has developed a database of researchers to visit city classrooms. The New York-based program-officially called Research!America, A Public Outreach Campaign for Metropolitan New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut-is focusing its efforts on the classroom. One of its main resources is a database of physicians, scientists, and other researchers organized by Leslie Goldman, executive director of school health programs at the New York Academy of Medicine (NYAM). These professionals visit New York schools "to get students interested in careers in health, science, and biomedical research," says Goldman. Approximately 200 physicians and other researchers participate in the educational efforts in 32 school districts. The program, which began in March 1995, is funded by Research!America. When the deans of the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville medical schools were frustrated by what they saw was a lack of appreciation of the value of medical research in the state, they contacted Woolley. BUILDING SUPPORT: Kentucky medical dean Emergy Wilson sees research "as a major economic force." With the aid of Research!America, Emery Wilson, dean of the University of Kentucky College of Medicine in Lexington, helped organize Research!Kentucky to build support among state residents for biomedical and other research. Its campaign kicked off in November. "We wanted to build a culture in Kentucky that emphasizes research from an economic-development standpoint," he says. "Last year Kentucky universities brought in $120 million in research for [the state]," he says. "We'd like the governor, industry, and the legislature to identify research as a major economic force." Research!Kentucky's strategy: a series of public-service announcements on television and radio highlighting the economic benefits of a strong research base. The organization also has placed op-eds in the newspapers and has established a scientist-student mentoring program. Wilson hopes that the program helps scientists "get a solid base of research dollars, whether from Congress or industry, and conveys Kentucky as a state that supports research, perhaps helping attract industry to the state as well." ATTENTION-GETTER: Laura Dawahare developed speakers' bureaus, radio spots, and mentoring programs. Laura Dawahare, project director at Research!Kentucky and vice president for Shandwick USA, a public relations firm headquartered in New York, headed a 15-member steering committee to develop a plan of action for the state program. Last year, she presented the plan to more than 100 leaders in education, business, and the community, from local CEOs to high school football coaches, "all of whom share a vision of improving the awareness of the value of medical research in Kentucky." According to Dawahare, an opinion poll revealed that Kentuckians supported research in general, but most had never written their representatives in Congress or were aware that their tax dollars paid for research. The Research!Kentucky program was aimed at increasing taxpayer awareness of "the value-social and economic-of biomedical research in Kentucky," she explains. "When compared to the state's industries, research funding ranks among the top 20. "We wanted people to understand that their taxes fund medical research and it might be one of the best investments they can make," Dawahare says. "We wanted to get children interested in careers in math and sciences, through the program 'scientists in the schools,' taking the best of an already established program. "We succeeded in getting the [Lexington] Herald-Leader to sit down and talk with some researchers occasionally, reinforcing where funding was coming from and going. We did a series of radio spots with 10 researchers from the universities where they talked about their research and helped humanize the effects of funding cuts on the state economically and otherwise." The Kentucky program includes a speakers' bureau, public-service television announcements, "Medical Research Minutes" radio spots, and a scientist mentoring program in the public schools. "We have a program to match scientists and classes. We've had 300 scientists agree to participate and about 75 who have already." Kentucky-born Nobel Prize-winning biologist Phillip Sharp of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge and shuttle astronaut Story Musgrave, a University of Kentucky graduate, serve as co-honorary chairmen of Research!Kentucky. Research!Kentucky, which is almost entirely paid for by the two universities, will continue once its current funding runs out, says Dawahare. It's being adopted by Area Health Education Centers, which is a system operated through the universities. Many of these programs were intended to be one-time campaigns, with the hope that individual states would continue the efforts themselves. The mother organization continues to oversee national efforts to expand the program. SOMETHING TO SAY: Mary Woolley thinks scientists can be more effective in their public outreach efforts. In Virginia, Research!America is planning to initiate a program involving public-opinion polls and a media blitz, Woolley explains. In California, Texas, and Florida, it is planning to implement the public-opinion part of the awareness campaign, "then turn over the program to state-based programs or organizations to develop their own program or bolster existing programs." "Sometimes it takes something like this to get people together who have similar goals," she says. On the other hand, she acknowledges that "getting the attention and time of key people" to participate can be difficult. For all the enthusiasm the programs generate, Dawahare claims insufficient backing "from those who would benefit the most from more National Institutes of Health support: scientists." Dawahare doubts such apathy stems necessarily from a lack of interest, but rather a lack of training. "We don't teach our scientists to be communicators," she says. "There's no premium for researchers to be good lobbyists." Woolley attributes this lack of interest to a belief among most scientists that outreach "isn't their job. It's traditionally reserved for senior scientists and officials." What's more, she says, "they don't know how to do it, and argue they don't have time. "We're talking about changing the sense of themselves-they don't see themselves as effective in public outreach and it being appropriate. It means changing those views." Dawahare thinks "it's time to turn back the programs to the universities to determine what messages to get to existing and future faculty and medical students to get them to become public advocates and teachers, talking to the public about what they do and why they should support research," she notes. SPEAK UP" Louisville's Nancy Martin urges scientists to be "advocates for biomedical research. Nancy C. Martin, a professor of biochemistry and associate dean for research at the University of Louisville School of Medicine, agrees. Yet for funding support to remain consistent, she contends, researchers' voices must be heard. "We've learned that scientists must be advocates for biomedical research," she says. University of Kentucky College of Medicine dean Wilson was disappointed in the lack of scientists' spirit behind the program, particularly in the few letters written to newspaper editors. He wishes there had been more support from newspapers, scientists, and the public. He expected Kentuckians to be wary of research, and was surprised to find, according to a public-opinion survey, many more in favor of genetic and animal research than he thought. Polls showed that the majority of Kentuckians supported genetic testing and animal studies. "Research can be an industry and needs to be seen that way. The state needs to nurture it that way as well." New York Academy of Sciences CEO Rodney W. Nichols doesn't see a complacency among scientists as much as he sees an unfamiliarity with "a new standard of accountability for federal funding." He points to efforts by National Science Foundation director Neal Lane, who has recently been trumpeting the benefits of scientists and engineers' talking to their congressional representatives, urging support for federal science and technology funding. However, Nichols realizes that not all scientists possess Lane's media savvy when it comes to promoting their activities. "There's still a reluctance among scientists to be considered another special-interest group asking for funding," comments Nichols. "Scientists . . . have been assuming ever since World War II that the country had confidence in science and technology. The budget numbers confirmed it," Nichols adds. "The budgets for science and technology have gone up for decades, and even now in the life sciences [NIH] has been spared to some degree from budget cuts. . . . In the past few years, both the government and the private sector have been cutting back on research support. But scientists never had open communication lines to politicians and in many cases still don't." Such increased competition for resources presents problems for those trying to convince the public who may believe that biomedical research already has an adequate piece of the federal science budget pie. Such fields may have "disproportionately high funding," compared with other disciplines in the physical sciences, contends Bruce L.R. Smith, senior fellow, emeritus, at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. Yet, he notes that "it can't hurt that people are encouraging support of biomedical research and education. What's really needed is a broadly literate public in a wide range of disciplines, not just science." "Too seldom have scientists considered the public purposes of their research," says Nichols. "The science community has to try harder to open communication lines and has to try harder to understand the consumer. "There's no doubt that they can be more active. You really have to relate what science is to the consumer." He sees Research!America in the New York region as "quite effective" in reaching the public about the importance of biomedical research. However, he adds, as yet it is difficult to measure success and "hard to prove that they changed any funding significantly."

Research!America Branches Out To States, Calls For Scientists' Aid

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