Research...

I talk a lot about PHA's four distinct research programs and the partnerships we have developed.  PHA is proud that in this small disease over a million dollars in research funding is provided through them each year.

What I don't talk a lot about is how much additional PH research funding is generated through our advocacy work.

Dr. Lisa Taylor's work is a great example. 

In 2005,  PHA began to look at the Department of Defense (DOD) medical research program.  Gavin Lindberg, who does a lot of our Capitol Hill work, began to collect letters from PH patients and family members in the military, explaining the importance of PH research to them.  (That's Gavin on the left, receiving an award from PHA's then Board Chair, Carl Hicks, a retired army Special Forces colonel.) In 2006, PH was listed for the first time as a disease eleigible for DOD research funding.

Today, Gavin wrote to let us know about Dr. Lisa Palmer at the University of Virginia who has received a grant for $946,875.00 to study aspects of pulmonary arterial hypertension. Read about her grant.

Advocacy can't do the reasearch.  It can't guarantee the creation of excellent research projects.  However, in a growing field with bright researchers, we can and do open doors and make new opportunities available.

Like our internal reseaearch programs, that's something to be very proud of, too!