From William Repicci, President & CEO
There is new urgency when it comes to the fight against lymphatic diseases. Where once we measured success in inches, we now mark milestones. These advancements are fueled by LE&RN activists raising their voices with the institutions that can provide necessary change.
With the proposed NIH Advanced Research Project Agency-Health (APRP-H), there is renewed energy in investments for treatments and cures that bear results in five years that would otherwise take fifty. Significantly, LE&RN was invited to make the case for lymphatic research via a Zoom presentation with NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins.
The National Heart, Blood, and Lung Institute of the National Institutes for Health highlighted Advances and Challenges in Treating Lymphedema in an August interview with Dhruv Singhal, M.D., Director of Lymphatic Surgery at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston—a LE&RN Center of Excellence.
This fall, LE&RN will collaborate with a pharma company and researcher on a drug study to treat lymphedema.
And we await word from the CDC regarding upcoming awards for Chronic Disease Awareness grants, a program for which LE&RN advocated heavily to be included in the FY2021 appropriations bill.
Finally, with both Senator Gillibrand and Senator Feinstein sponsoring the request, we look for a breakthrough in getting lymphatic diseases added to the Department of Defense’s Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program (PRMRP).
I congratulate you all on these accomplishments and invite you to enjoy this month’s issue of Lymphedema and Lymphatic Disease Matters.
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