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in this issue...
 Friends of NIDA Bring Criminal Justice Substance Abuse Treatment Research to the Hill
APA Weighs in on FY10 Budgets for NSF and NASA
Science GRO Submits Testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives
Department of Homeland Security Posts Minutes
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Commission Calls for a Smoke-Free Nation
McLellan Nominated as Deputy Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy
APA Science GRO Continues Push on Capitol Hill for Veterans’ Research
Easton Announced as Director for the Institute of Education Sciences
NIH Scientific Management Review Board Holds Inaugural Meeting
APA Helps Organize NIH Poster Session on Capitol Hill
Friends of NIDA Bring Criminal Justice Substance Abuse Treatment Research to the Hill
In conjunction with the House Addiction, Treatment and Recovery Caucus, The Friends of NIDA coalition held another successful congressional briefing on March 27. APA took the organizational lead, while 23 scientific societies and professional organizations cosponsored the event to educate congressional staff on the topic of “Implementing Effective Substance Abuse Treatment in the Criminal Justice System.”
Nora Volkow, MD, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) began the briefing with an overview of NIDA’s criminal justice substance abuse treatment research portfolio. Psychologist and Temple University Professor Steven Belenko, PhD, followed with a presentation on the need to expand effective substance abuse treatment for offenders to enhance public safety. Linda Jalbert, a drug court graduate and former legislative assistant for Senator Susan Collins, concluded the briefing by sharing her story of addiction, prison, treatment, and recovery.
Click here to view pictures from the briefing.
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APA Weighs in on FY10 Budgets for NSF and NASA
On April 2, Steve Breckler, APA’s Executive Director for Science, delivered testimony before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies, chaired by Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-WV). The National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are funded annually through this Subcommittee, and Breckler urged members of Congress to support President Obama’s Fiscal Year 2010 (FY10) request for both agencies. For NSF, the President’s request of $7 billion is consistent with recent Administration and Congressional plans to invest substantially in federal science agencies with the capacity to stimulate global competitiveness and innovation. In our APA testimony, Breckler noted the importance of ensuring that overall increases for the agency must be reflected in increases for NSF’s behavioral and social science research portfolios. The President’s FY10 request of $18.7 billion for NASA would address ongoing budgetary shortfalls and enable the agency to move forward with the Vision for Space Exploration while also sustaining its non-Exploration missions. Public testimony is one opportunity for Congress to hear from outside organizations as it begins to draft appropriations bills for the next Fiscal Year, and APA will continue advocating for NSF and NASA research funding throughout the long appropriations process.
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Science GRO Submits Testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives
On April 16, Science GRO submitted written testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies covering human factors research at the Federal Aviation Administration; truck driver safety with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration; driver distraction research coordinated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; and homelessness prevention funding at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
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Department of Homeland Security Posts Minutes
On April 16, the Department of Homeland Security posted the minutes from its 2007 and 2008 Science and Technology Advisory Committee meetings. Several of the meetings were closed due to the sensitive nature of the discussions surrounding the possibility that Improvised Explosive Devices might be used here in the US.
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Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Commission Calls for a Smoke-Free Nation
A much anticipated report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Commission to Build a Healthier America was recently released, stating that one of its six priorities was for the U.S. to become a smoke-free nation. Coupled with the fact that the Obama administration is poised to dramatically overhaul the U.S. health care system, psychology is moving assertively to demonstrate its capacity to take a stance and improve public health. Opinion leaders agree that one piece of low-hanging fruit in the campaign should be reducing tobacco use. Consider the context: Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S. Each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 438,000 Americans die prematurely from smoking or exposure to secondhand smoke, and another 8.6 million have serious illnesses caused by smoking. For every person who dies from smoking, 20 more people suffer from at least one serious tobacco-related illness. Despite these risks, 45.3 million U.S. adults smoke cigarettes. Tied to this enormous health toll is the significant economic burden of tobacco use—more than $96 billion a year in medical expenditures and another $97 billion a year in lost productivity.
Read more...
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McLellan Nominated as Deputy Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy
This month, psychologist A. Thomas McLellan was nominated to serve as Deputy Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. McLellan, who was finishing a four year term on the Board of Directors of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence, had recently been elected to serve as President-elect of the College. Having received the Obama administration nomination, McLellan had to resign that post. As this issue of SPIN goes to press, McLellan’s Senate confirmation hearing had not been scheduled, but APA’s endorsement of McLellan’s nomination is posted on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s website.
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APA Science GRO Continues Push on Capitol Hill for Veterans’ Research
Science GRO’s Heather Kelly and her veterans’ research coalition colleagues continued their push this month to meet individually with staff for all 70 Members of Congress on House and Senate committees with authorizing (policy-related) or appropriating (funding) power over the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The two “asks” in each meeting this year are for $575 million in Fiscal Year 2010 (FY10) for the VA’s intramural research account and for $142 million designated in the VA’s Minor Construction Account to renovate VA research lab facilities. Both of these numbers are echoed in the annual veterans’ organization document, The Independent Budget, as well as in the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee’s own Views and Estimates released earlier this spring. President Obama and Democrats in the Senate also have begun discussing the possibility of moving towards two-year appropriations for the VA, though it appears unlikely to happen in the current legislative year due to pushback from House appropriators in particular. APA will present formal, oral testimony on its appropriations recommendations for VA research in late April.
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Easton Announced as Director for the Institute of Education Sciences
Earlier this month, the White House announced its intention to nominate John Easton, Executive Director of The Consortium on Chicago School Research (CCSR) in Chicago as the new Director of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). Holding a PhD in Measurement, Evaluation and Statistical Analysis from the University of Chicago, Easton has previously worked with fellow Chicagoan and new Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. Additional leadership is needed on the National Board for Education Sciences, where nine of the fifteen slots remain vacant. In April, APA sent a slate of nominations to the Department of Education, encouraging the selection of “individuals with expertise in psychological science…and an understanding of the contributions of the broader behavioral and social sciences to advise the agency.”
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NIH Scientific Management Review Board Holds Inaugural Meeting
On April 27-28 the NIH Scientific Management Review Board convened for its inaugural meeting. Of particular interest to the extramural research community was a discussion of whether the Board should study the potential merger of the National Institutes on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). Despite presentations from eight organizations either opposing the merger and the study of the merger or recommending a more holistic reexamination of the organization of NIH (including APA), the Board voted to move forward with the study. It is being characterized as a study of organizational change to further optimize substance use, abuse, and addiction at NIH. The full meeting is available for viewing at the SMRB meeting website.
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APA Helps Organize NIH Poster Session on Capitol Hill
Eighteen institutes, centers and offices at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will display posters on their behavioral and social science research contributions to health on April 28, 2009. APA, working with members of the Coalition for the Advancement of Health Through Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, is helping organize this event on Capitol Hill, to which the public, members of Congress and their staff are invited.
Given that policymakers in Washington are eager to take a fresh look at health and healthcare, it’s an opportune time for behavioral and social scientists to show how their research has contributed to advances in health promotion, disease prevention, treatment and understanding of basic mechanisms of health and illness. One poster from the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research helps put the contributions in context. It says, “Imagine living in a nation where one out of every two adults smoked cigarettes, where depression and substance abuse were mysterious and poorly understood conditions, and where children’s developmental problems were automatically blamed on bad parenting. Just a few short decades ago this imagined world was reality. Social and behavioral research supported by the NIH… has made significant contributions to improving our nation’s health.”
The next issue of SPIN will include photographs and coverage of this event.
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About SPIN
APA's Science Government Relations Office (GRO) wants you to know about the important policy issues that involve psychological science at the national level. The Science GRO staff advocate for psychological science not only with members of Congress, but also with the Departments of Defense, Health and Human Services, Transportation, Veterans Affairs, Education, Justice, and with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and National Science Foundation. To keep you up-to-date regarding science policy within these agencies and on Capitol Hill, Science GRO staff write various articles and publish them monthly in an electronic newsletter called Science Policy Insider News (SPIN).
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Questions?
If you have any questions regarding SPIN or specific science policy issues, please feel free to contact any of APA's Science GRO staff.
Geoff Mumford, PhD
Assistant Executive Director for Science Policy
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Pat Kobor
Senior Science Policy Analyst
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Heather O'Beirne Kelly, PhD
Senior Legislative and Federal Affairs Officer
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Karen Studwell, JD
Senior Legislative and Federal Affairs Officer
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Anne Bettesworth
Science Policy Associate
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Kirk Waldroff
Science Website Manager
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Tammy Barnes
Administrative Coordinator
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