GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS & ADVOCACY
Our Government Affairs & Advocacy program, based in Washington, D.C., focuses on educating
elected officials about pancreatic cancer and the need to increase federal research funding dedicated
to studying the disease.
Government Affairs & Advocacy Highlights in 2011–’12:
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Thanks to the efforts of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network and its volunteers, the
Recalcitrant Cancer Research Act,
formerly known as the
Pancreatic Cancer Research &
Education Act
(
S. 362/ H.R. 733) has achieved an extraordinary level of support. With
59
Senate co-sponsors and more than 290 House co-sponsors to date, the bill has
more support than the vast majority of bills introduced in the 112th Congress.
n
In June 2012, the bill’s authors (Senator Sheldon Whitehouse in the Senate [D-RI]
and Representatives Anna Eshoo [D-CA] and Leonard Lance [R-NJ] in the House)
circulated letters to their congressional colleagues urging the leaders of the Senate Health,
Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) and House Energy & Commerce Committees
to move the bill out of committee so that the full Senate and House could vote. Our
grassroots volunteers helped secure 43 signatories on the Senate letter and 114 on the
House letter—in just two weeks’ time.
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In June 2012, the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network hosted the sixth annual Pancreatic
Cancer Advocacy Day in Washington, D.C. Nearly 650 volunteers from 49 states
attended the event, a 19% increase compared to 2011. In addition, almost 2,500
supporters participated from home, making more than 5,600 phone calls to Congress
during the National Call-In, a 105% increase in calls over the year before.
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In March 2012, the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network sponsored a congressional
briefing on pancreatic cancer in the U.S. House of Representatives which was very well
attended by congressional staff. Dr. George Fisher, associate professor of medicine at
Stanford University, discussed the ongoing challenges he faces in treating patients with
pancreatic cancer and the struggles the scientific community continues to encounter in
the field of pancreatic cancer research. Representatives Eshoo and Lance also spoke as
well as Eva Noesen, widow of Tyler Noesen, who died in January 2012 of pancreatic
cancer at the age of 30.
Programs and Services