The bill that President Obama signed this week—the Omnibus Appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2010—provides a second year of $1 million funding—$2.6 million total to date—for the new national lupus physician and health care provider education program!
Lupus education will now be developed for the nation’s medical schools to give doctors and community-based health care providers the tools to pause and ask that crucial question, “COULD IT BE LUPUS?”
– prominent New York City rheumatologist
"Lupus is primarily a disease of young women,” explained LRI President Margaret G. Dowd. “And it’s also more prevalent among African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans, who are three times more likely than other Americans to have lupus. Now we can ensure that doctors and health care providers are educated to care for all young women at risk for this serious disease.”
Who’s in charge: The Office of Minority Health in the federal Department of Health and Human Services in partnership with the U.S. Surgeon General and the U.S. Office of Women’s Health.
Who helped make it happen: You did—along with advocates from the state and local lupus organizations that make up our LRI National Coalition, and a dedicated group of legislators in Congress!
The appropriations bill also designates $4.5 million for the Center for Disease Control’s National Lupus Patient Registry.
Lupus Advocates, thank you for your hard work!
& please JOIN US in “Telling Congress” about lupus in 2010!
About the LRI
The nation’s only nonprofit singularly dedicated to novel research in lupus, we champion innovation and scientific risk-taking in the hunt for solutions to this complex and dangerous autoimmune disease.
Lupus Research Institute
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T: 212.812.9881 F: 212.545.1843
e-mail: Lupus@LupusNY.org