Must reads

• A March 31, 2014 The Hill opinion piece by Gregory T. Lucier underscored the importance of private-public partnerships to addressing health priorities like Alzheimer's. According to Lucier, "Fortunately, the private sector can step in to fill the funding gap. Collaborations among all involved in the drug-development process -- from basic researchers to clinicians to pharmaceutical companies -- can ensure that the flow of life-saving treatments doesn't stop when federal research dollars dry up. Indeed, researchers are now diversifying their funding sources by bringing on commercial partners as well as a new breed of venture philanthropists…The private sector and academia are constantly finding new ways to fund life-saving research. With the NIH's announcement, the federal government is now on board with this approach. These partnerships are the key to saving lives -- now and in the future." Lucier is the former chairman and CEO of Life Technologies and is currently chairman of the Board for Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute.

• An April 1, 2014 Wired Magazine article reported on the need for brain donations for medical research. According to the article, "“We have so little to study, it’s just egregious,” Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health, said. People don’t line up to donate brain tissue like they do for other organs or blood, Insel wrote on his blog a few months ago. One reason might be squeamishness, he suggested: “Perhaps because identity, our sense of self, resides in our brains, not our kidneys.”"

• A March 31, 2014 Forbes article highlighted the impact of caregiving on children and employers and included quotes from CEOi's Drew Holzapfel. According to the article, "But even at companies where resources for caregivers are available, most people do not participate. Part of the problem, says Drew Holzapfel, is that a significant percentage–nearly a third–of employees facilitating elder care do not self-identify as “caregivers.” Holzapfel is the convener of Respecting a Caregiver’s Time (ReACT), a coalition of employers focused on addressing the issues of employee caregivers. He says that even as employer awareness of the need for elder care benefits has risen, employee utilization has remained nearly flat."