Must reads

• A December 23, 2013 Huffington Post piece by USA2 Chairman George Vradenburg called on global powers to pursue "action-oriented follow-through" after the recent G8 summit on dementia. According to Vradenburg, "To this end, during a convening by the Global CEO Initiative on Alzheimer's disease (CEOi) of a diverse group of industry, academia, government and non-governmental organizations immediately following the G8 summit, six key action items emerged, including: Developing a global Alzheimer's clinical trial platform that reduces the time, cost, and risk of drug testing, as well as advances the scientific understanding of disease pathogenesis and increases capacity and efficiency of clinical trials…Leveraging technological innovation in tools and Big Data techniques to advance Alzheimer's disease research, patient engagement, and care delivery…Creating global standards for regulatory pathways of Alzheimer's treatments."
• A December 23, 2013 Huffington Post piece by Michael Hodin highlighted China's looming aging and dementia crisis. According to Hodin, "With one in two people over 85 at risk of Alzheimer's, China will have about 55 million at risk by mid-century (or roughly the population of the entire U.K. today)…So, President Obama and PM Cameron would both do well to keep in sight the changing demographics of China and design their policy agendas with the understanding that China's aging population is likely to influence China's global leadership prospects as other more conventional areas of foreign policy attention."
• A December 23, 2013 News Observer opinion piece by Jonathan Horowitz, an associate professor of oncology in the N.C. State University College of Veterinary Medicine, called for greater support of biomedical research and cautioned against budget cuts to research. According to Horowitz, "Let’s try to imagine a world without biomedical research. A world in which emerging deadly microbes are not identified and vaccines or antibiotics are not discovered. A world in which genes are theoretical rather than tangible bits of information that can be manipulated for our benefit. A world in which all cancers are treated alike and survival is a coin-flip. Do we want to live in that world?…To tackle the clinical problems of today, and those yet to come, we must find a way to reverse our current course and ensure support for biomedical research and respect for the scientific method."