Recipients of Gordon and Llura Gund Leadership Award
WASHINGTON, DC (March 14, 2016) – Trish and George Vradenburg, co-founders of UsAgainstAlzheimer’s, will receive Research!America’s Gordon and Llura Gund Leadership Award for their role and leadership in advancing solutions to the Alzheimer’s crisis.
UsAgainstAlzheimer’s (UsA2) is an innovative nonprofit organization advancing solutions to the Alzheimer's challenge. UsA2 speaks for persons with or at risk for Alzheimer's in pressing for greater urgency from government, industry and the scientific community – accomplishing this through sustained and relentless leadership, fierce advocacy, strategic investments and a focus on engaging women, African Americans and Latinos.
The award will be presented to the Vradenburgs at the 20th Annual Advocacy Awards at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C. The awards dinner, to be held on March 16, brings more than 400 leaders from government, industry, academia and health advocacy organizations to recognize top medical and health research advocates, who have made an impact in advancing the nation’s commitment toward research.
“Research!America is honored to recognize Trish and George Vradenburg, for their tireless dedication to advocacy for Alzheimer’s research and treatment,” said Mary Woolley, president and CEO of Research!America. “Their leadership of UsAgainstAlzheimer’s has been vital in accelerating efforts to find a cure for this serious health threat.”
“Thank you to Research!America for this recognition,” said George Vradenburg. “While our sense of passion and urgency comes from a personal place, the growing prevalence and cost of this disease gives our mission a larger purpose. The Alzheimer’s epidemic will touch over 130 million individuals in the coming decades. It will infect hundreds of millions more family members emotionally and financially. What’s more, the cost to taxpayer supported medical and social support systems will crowd out public investments in education, infrastructure and public safety. It is imperative that Alzheimer’s be confronted at a pace and scale equal to its challenge. We’re so fortunate to have Research!America’s powerful advocacy of biomedical research to help us get there.”
“It’s extremely gratifying to be recognized for the work we are doing on behalf of persons with or at risk for Alzheimer’s,” said Trish Vradenburg. “Last week, when we paid tribute and a nostalgic farewell to Nancy and Ronald Reagan’s love story, I was reminded that Alzheimer’s is an equal opportunity killer – it can take down a president as easily as a postman. My mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s nearly 30 years ago and little has changed. If only that had happened now when there is real hope on the horizon. We have to bring this disease out of the shadows and into the spotlight and that’s why I couldn’t be more honored to receive this award.”
George and Trish Vradenburg are the first to receive the Gordon and Llura Gund Leadership Award for Alzheimer’s advocacy. Past winners include the Honorable Michael Bloomberg, Michael Milken and Susan Axelrod.
In addition to chairing UsA2, George Vradenburg convenes the Global CEO Initiative (CEOi) on Alzheimer's Disease, the only industry coalition dedicated to stopping Alzheimer’s, and co-convenes Leaders Engaged on Alzheimer’s Disease (LEAD), a network of more than 80 major Alzheimer’s-serving organizations from the nonprofit, foundation, academic, corporate and government sectors. Mr. Vradenburg was appointed to the World Dementia Council by the UK Secretary of State for Health in March 2014, and was a founding member of the U.S. Health and Human Services’ Advisory Council on Research, Care, and Services. He previously served in senior executive positions at AOL/Time Warner, Fox and CBS.
Trish Vradenburg is the vice-chair of UsA2 and a founder of WomenAgainstAlzheimer’s. She is also a playwright, author, comedy writer, journalist and advocate. She has written for television shows including “Designing Women,” “Family Ties” and “Kate and Allie.” Her play, “Surviving Grace,” a comedic/dramatic homage to her mother who succumbed to Alzheimer’s was produced throughout the U.S., including off-Broadway. Her novel, “Liberated Lady,” was chosen as Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club selections and has been translated into three foreign languages.
Other 2016 Research!America Advocacy Award winners are Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK); Dr. Harold Varmus, Nobel Laureate and Professor of Medicine; Dr. Robert Langer, Institute Professor at MIT; Dr. John Noseworthy, president and CEO, Mayo Clinic; Lisa Paulsen, president and CEO, The Entertainment Industry Foundation; and The ALS Association.
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UsAgainstAlzheimer’s is an innovative non-profit organization demanding – and delivering – a solution to Alzheimer’s. Driven by the suffering of millions of families, UsAgainstAlzheimer’s presses for greater urgency from government, industry and the scientific community in the quest for an Alzheimer's cure – accomplishing this through effective leadership, collaborative advocacy, and strategic investments.
Founded in 2010, UsAgainstAlzheimer’s has worked across sectors to: (1) secure the national goal of preventing and effectively treating Alzheimer’s by 2025 and help secure nearly $500 million in additional public funding for Alzheimer’s research over the past few years; (2) drive global efforts that resulted in the leaders of the world’s most powerful nations, the G7 group, to embrace a similar 2025 goal and to call for greater levels of research investment and collaboration; and (3) forge industry commitments to improve efficiencies for an expedited drug discovery and approval process.
Research!America is the nation’s largest nonprofit public education and advocacy alliance working to make research to improve health a higher national priority. The 2016 Advocacy Awards represent Research!America’s 20th year of recognizing the accomplishments of leading advocates for medical and health research.
Contact: Ranit Schmelzer
Phone: (202) 538-1065
Email: [email protected]