Unable to view properly? View this message on our website.
National Brain Tumor Society

National Brain Tumor Society Public Policy and Advocacy Update
Vol. 4, No. 12
December 2014

2014: Advocacy Year in Review
As 2014 draws to a close, the National Brain Tumor Society would like to thank you for being a public policy advocate over the past year. Together with your fellow advocates, you have made the voice of the brain tumor community heard loud and clear in Washington. We greatly appreciate your support of our public policy agenda, and know that you will continue to create positive change for the brain tumor community in 2015.

Here are some 2014 brain tumor advocacy highlights: 

  • In 2014, National Brain Tumor Society advocates sent thousands of emails to their members of Congress on legislation affecting the brain tumor community.
  • Our advocacy community grew from 14,000 to over 35,000 public policy advocates across the country!
  • Our public policy advocates were also engaged in social media in 2014. Of the National Brain Tumor Society Facebook posts related to public policy advocacy, our total “reach” of all posts was 208,100, with 5,785 “likes” and 1,670 “shares” of related content.
  • Our advocacy presence on Twitter increased this year, with a total “reach” of 789,345, including 10,330 clicks on our tweets and 441 retweets/replies.
  • This year’s fourth-annual Head to the Hill Advocacy Day was our largest to date, with 135 advocates from 30 states attending 156 meetings with members of Congress or their staff.
  • For the first time, we had an organized effort for advocates to visit their members of Congress in their home districts during their August recess.
And your advocacy paid off:
  • The National Cancer Institute and National Institutes of Health received increases in funding for 2015.
  • The number of co-sponsors of the Cancer Drug Coverage Parity Act (oral chemotherapy parity bill) increased to 92 on a bi-partisan basis (a net gain of 30 members from the previous year). 
  • The National Cancer Institute announced the launch of a new genomics based pediatric cancer clinical trial focusing on solid tumors, including brain tumors, and it renewed funding for pre-clinical drug testing on pediatric glioblastoma.

As 2014 comes to a close, I want to send a heartfelt thank you for your advocacy on behalf of the brain tumor community this year. You are truly the most important part of our public policy and advocacy program. Together, we are making a difference in the fight against brain tumors. 

David F. Arons 
Chief Public Policy and Advocacy Officer
darons@braintumor.org

Save the Date! Head to the Hill 2015 is May 4-5, 2015. For more information, visit our website.

National Brain Tumor Society is fiercely committed to finding better treatments, and ultimately a cure, for people living with a brain tumor today and those who will be diagnosed tomorrow. This means effecting change in the system at all levels. It's time to build on progress and transform tomorrow today.

Was this e-mail forwarded to you? Subscribe today. Forward to a friend.

55 Chapel Street, Suite 200, Newton, MA 02458

617.924.9997 | Contact Us | www.braintumor.org | Donate

© National Brain Tumor Society - All Rights Reserved. Update email preferences or unsubscribe