“It is fantastic that patient groups and professional groups like this go to the Hill to educate our Congresspeople about the burden of disease and the need for an increase in NIH funding,” said Dr. Landis. NIH is “committed to raising awareness of the need to increase the NIH budget, which has taken a beating,” she added. “If you correct for inflation and take into account the sequester cut of 5% last year, our funds to spend on biomedical research are less than we had in 2002, which is pretty depressing when you think about the extraordinary opportunities that are available.”
Members of the AHDA would like more headache specialists, patients, and patient advocates to be involved in the group’s activities. “Next year, we will be going to Washington to lobby again, and if anyone is interested in coming to Headache on the Hill, I would like for [him or her] to make me aware of this,” concluded Dr. Young.
—Erik Greb