Northwest Association for Biomedical Research

RESEARCH AMERICA
An Alliance For Discoveries In Health

The Northwest Association for Biomedical Research and Patty Wood To Be Honored for Medical Research Advocacy
(Washington, DC) The Northwest Association for Biomedical Research (NWABR) and Patty Wood will be honored with Research!America's 1999 Award for Exceptional Contributions as Volunteer Advocated for Medical or Other Health-related Research at Research!America's Fourth Annual Advocacy Awards Dinner, to be held at the National Academy of Sciences on March 28, 2000.

Established in 1988, NWABR was founded to educate the public on the value of biomedical research and its connection to people's hopes for cures. Since it was established, NWABR has reached over 1,000,000 students and adults at schools and community groups, with education programs and media outreach designed to heighten public awareness of the benefits of research in their every day lives. NWABR's sponsorship of programs like the "Amazing Animal Research" essay and poster contest brings scientists, students and the larger community together to communicate about research.
Wood, twice the recipient of a life-saving kidney transplant operation, stepped in to provide the patient's perspective to medical and health research when NWABR was created in 1988. Today, she co-chairs NWABR's Patients for Animal Research Committee, which provides patients an ideal opportunity to educate the public, by sharing personal stories and life experiences.

In 1989, Wood established a local chapter of the Transplant Recipients International Organization. She has worked on the Washington State Driver's License Organ Donor Program and she also assisted in the development of the U.S. Postal Service Organ Donor Stamp. She has been at the forefront of organ donation education by working with LifeCenter Northwest, mentoring other patients who are waiting for a donor.
Wood has also been a dedicated volunteer and spokesperson for the Northwest Kidney Centers for over 25 years, often taking kidney dialysis machines and other props to classrooms, colleges, churches and civic organizations. She can often be seen in Olympia during legislative sessions, acting as a patient advocate for research issues.

Other winners of 1999 Research!America Advocacy Awards include: Senator Arlen Specter; Congressman John Edward Porter; Roscoe R. "Ike" Robinson, MD, a professor of medicine and former vice chancellor for Health Affairs at Vanderbilt Medical Center; Walter Anderson, editor of Parade Magazine; James Redford, founder of the James Redford Institute for Transplantation; David and Lynn Frohnmayer, founders of the Fanconi Anemia Research Fund, Inc.; and The Ad Hoc Group for Medical Research Funding.

Research!America President Mary Woolley said, "This year's winners represent the best and the brightest advocacy stars we have working to make medical and health research a higher national priority." She continued, "Without these individuals and organizations, the tremendous gains that medical research has recently seen, could not have been possible. We salute all of you for your fine work."

Previous winners of Research!America's Advocacy Awards include: Katie Couric, co-host of NBC's Today; Benjamin Reeve, citizen advocate and brother of film star Christopher Reeve; Michael DeBakey, world-renowned heart surgeon; and Tenley Albright, accomplished physician, advocate and Olympic gold medalist.

Research!America is the nation's leading nonpartisan voice for making medical and health research a higher national priority. Its membership represents more than 375 academic institutions, independent research laboratories, teaching hospitals, private industries, professional societies, voluntary health agencies and philanthropies.

NWABR is a 501(c)3 organization. All contributions are tax deductible.
The NWABR web site was made possible by funding from the National Center for Research
Resources and the National Institutes of Health through a Science Education Partnership Award.