Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) was nominated by President-elect Barack Obama for the position of Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), Associated Press reported yesterday.

Daschle served in the Senate from 1986 and was defeated in 2004. Since then, Daschle has taken on a number of new projects,  including taking the lead on Obama's health care policy group during the election and publishing a book in February called Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis.

Earlier this year, Daschle sat down with Steve Clemons, of The New American Foundation to discuss the current challenges in health care and possible solutions. See the video here.

In other news, Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA) has ousted Representative John Dingell (D-MI) for the chairman on the Committee on Energy and Commerce. Dingell has held the position for almost 28-years which has always been a key and influential position.

Waxman, who represents Beverly Hills and other portions of west Los Angeles, is known as a strong advocate for a rapid overhaul of the auto industry. He is a strong proponent of environmental issues, has called for stricter oversight of the FDA, and has been a long standing advocate for medial research and the NIH.

Dingell, on the other hand, comes from Michigan where the big three automakers struggle with solutions as the industry faces job loss, climbing pensions and competition from overseas. Dingell is married to a senior executive at General Motors.

The Committee oversees health care, climate change and energy. With the new Administration focused on these three areas, the vote to make Waxman will play a key role in Obama's reformist agenda.

Erica A.

Committee on Energy and Commerce, Health Policy, Henry Waxman, John Dingell, Public Affairs, Spectrum Science Communications, Steve Clemons, Tom Daschle

Immediately following the election, the Wall Street Journal made a series of predictions about major health positions in the upcoming Obama administration. Speculations whispered included former Senator Tom Daschle as HHS Secretary or top health care advisor to the President, and Steve Nissen, leading Cleveland Clinic cardiologist, as FDA Commissioner. Janet Woodcock, the current head of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, and Mike Taylor, former Deputy FDA Commissioner under President Clinton, have also been mentioned as possibilities for the FDA's head post.

Throughout President-elect Obama's campaign, he and his health policy advisors discussed the creation of a new Comparative Effectiveness Institute which would be housed under HHS' Agency of Healthcare Research and Quality. The Institute would be responsible for researching the effectiveness of all health care procedures and services in order to recognize the best ways to prevent, diagnose and treat health conditions. For this new office, as well as for lead positions at CMS and NIH, National Journal's Health Care Experts blog recommends that President-elect Obama choose physicians with heavy management and research experience and the will to make the U.S. health care system #1 in the world by the year 2020. 

Spectrum's Public Affairs is pleased to share Election Round Up '08, a straightforward and informative recap of Election Day results. A unique, health care-only resource, our report highlights the key factors that drove voters' decisions, includes a summary of President-elect Obama's health care priorities and provides a snapshot of the committees worth watching in the 111^th Congress. In the coming weeks, our team looks forward to hearing your feedback about Round Up '08 and keeping you updated as heath care decisions are floated and announcements are made for Administration and Congressional committee posts. 

-Katharine Perrow, Director, Spectrum Science Public Affairs

Election Day, Health Policy, President elect Obama, Public Affairs

Yesterday the Wall Street Journal Health Blog reported a new social network that will sequence and post the genes and records of 100,000 willing subjects.

The venture, led by George Church, a genetics professor at Harvard Medical School, received approval from the university's ethical review board in April. To capture the information, scientists launched the Personal Genome Project (PGP).

The development follows the passage of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, which Spectrum reported on in June. The bill, as the title suggests, prohibits work place discrimination based on the results of genetic tests.

As reported by the Boston Globe, "the (PFP) project aims to advance genome research by tapping volunteers who have a Facebook-mentality sense of privacy - minimal - and enough excitement about genomic science that they are willing to lay out their genetic and medical information so any researcher can sift through it for links between genes and traits."

-Erica Anderson, Senior Digital Strategist

New Media, Public Affairs

At Spectrum we are proud of the important work and missions of our clients. That's why we come to work each day with passion and focus - because at the end of the day we know that our efforts will in some way help improve the quality of life for others.

To share our passion for what we do, we've built the "Spectrum Showcase" a way to spotlight some of the work we have done for our clients - beyond case studies.

Our first Showcase is a video we produced for the Society for Women's Health Research's 2008 Annual Gala Dinner. It is a video that hits just the right balance of entertainment and information. Take a look here and tell us what you think.

-Joseph L. McClanahan, Director, Business Development

PR industry, Technology

Spectrum Public Affairs Senior Director Courtney Gray Haupt shared with me that one of her final activities for the Association of Clinical Research Organizations (ACRO), her former employer, was to work on the "Tuskegee: A Cloud Over Research" article that appeared in the September 30, 2008 WASHINGTON POST Health section about the challenges recruiting minority populations to clinical trials.

Courtney: "ACRO collaborated on the piece with the Center for Information and Study on Clinical Research Participation (CISCRP) , a wonderful nonprofit based in Boston focused on promoting greater awareness and understanding of clinical research participation and the role it plays in public health."

Thanks for giving us this insight, Courtney. Many of us here at Spectrum were involved with launching the drug that was approved by the FDA in 2005 for the treatment of heart failure in African Americans, as the article discusses. The issues of clinical trial recruiting and correcting disparities in minority health care are near and dear to us.

- John Seng, Founder and President

clinical trials, Health care industry, health care issues, health disparities, heart disease

Yesterday I went to the Kaiser Family Foundation for a panel discussion on "The Health Blogosphere: What It Means for Policy Debates and Journalism."

One thing is for sure. While Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Michael Leavitt, is a member of the "Health Blogosphere" with his own blog, he did not, at least at this event, contribute much to current policy debates. When asked two substantive questions on highly charged issues currently unfolding at the Department, Leavitt made it clear he was not there to make news.

(See the exchange here at 31:09)

Come on, Secretary. Where's the spirit?

While Leavitt wasn't willing to talk politics, he read excerpts of his blog. With good intention, Leavitt disclosed how blogging has introduced him into a new realm of communication - particularly because certain posts have struck dialogues with a new audience.

Unlike an unfettered blog, however, Leavitt said his team vets comments before they are or are not posted. (He called this a "monitored blog effort.") He also seemed in the dark about who his audience is - whether it is HHS employees, policy wonks or patient advocate groups.

Following Leavitt's opener, The Kaiser Family Foundation moderated a discussion on the growing influence of policy blogs inside the beltway - and how they represent the many communities affected by health care policy. One audience member actually rendered the panel silent - something you do not find often at Washington panels.

 "Could you make some comments on the demographics of the blogosphere? Today we seem to have white males…and you mentioned it (blogging) doesn't work if you're only preaching to the choir…"

The room fell silent and the panel looked awkwardly at the moderator. The panel was made up of five white males.  

"Somebody…?" The moderator begged.

Finally, Ezra Kline of The American Prospect spoke.

"I can say that I've found blogging is enormously open to young, white males. It has no gates if you are them. However, this is a conversation that has been tremendously controversial and long running in the blogosphere. Blogging does tilt male. It does tilt white.

The great problem…in blogging for diversity purposes…is that you had a strange dynamic…I'm just called a "political blogger"….but a female political blogger…she would be considered a "women's issues blogger."

Kline went on to say that the problem is not because there are not those diverse bloggers in the blogosphere - but instead that it is more about who gets the "invites, who Daily Kos links to, who is read by which communities."

Kline's point resonated with me as I had just read the day before about the BlogHer conference in San Francisco. The New York Times wrote about the conference in a piece called "Blogging's Glass Ceiling." And while another reputable blogging conference took place the same weekend, Netroots Nation, their report was placed in the Times' Politics section. BlogHer, on the other hand, was in Fashion & Style. Ouch.

All in all, the Kaiser Health Blogosphere event made the effort to bring health policy bloggers to the table .Unfortunately, it did not do much in the way of representing the presence of independent blogs like Health Wonk Review and The Health Care Blog or patient advocate blogs such as Patient Centric Healthcare and Lemonade Life.

-Erica Anderson, Account Executive

Blogging, Health Policy, Kaiser Family Foundation, Michael Leavitt, New Media, Public Affairs

 It's easy to forget how lucky we are to be smack dab in the middle of everything here in Washington.  But having the opportunity to attend last week's National Journal-sponsored Health Care Policy Breakfast was a welcome reminder that DC is where key discussions happen and decisions are made.

The highlight of the breakfast was a debate between the 2008 presidential candidates' health policy advisers. Kavita Patel, representing Sen. Barack Obama's campaign, and Dan Crippen, representing Sen. John McCain's campaign, sat side-by-side while explaining what they view to be the pros and cons of each other's policies.

With only a few months until the official nominations are made at the Democratic National Convention on August 25-28 and the Republican National Convention on September 1-4, it was great to hear how both presumptive nominees would address the health care system. Even more exciting was contemplating the role health care policy will play in November's election.

An added plus that morning were representatives from the insurance and consumer industries. Karen Ignagni, President and CEO of America's Health Insurance Plans, and Ron Pollack, Founding Executive Director of Families USA, the national organization for health care consumers, weighed in on the candidates' policies.

Ignagni said that the main discussion surrounding McCain's proposal should be whether it makes sense to keep or scrap employer-sponsored health care. She also said the discussion surrounding Obama's policy should be whether or not it is responsible to give purchasing power to people who have had little to no experience with the health care system.

Pollack said that he considers Obama's plan more detailed, but that McCain's plan is more radical. Pollack said he favors Obama's policy because Obama wants to build on what is already in place today (including existing public and private programs) and, therefore, his plan is more gradual and realistic. Pollack noted that, in previous years, everyone's "second favorite choice was the status quo," but now there is a real demand for action. Pollack advised making health care an early priority in the next administration.

Congressional staffers, reporters, and representatives from medical associations, such as the National Community Pharmacists Organization, Disabled American Veterans, the American Public Health Association, the Healthcare Leadership Council, the American Hospital Association, and the Alzheimer's Association, packed the room.  And there I was- a public affairs intern in a room of CEOs, consultants, and government relations managers, sharing my excitement for the coming months.

True, it's almost too easy to ignore the awesome things going on around me. Motorcades, rallies, and speeches have become commonplace after two years in DC.  But this debate between the candidates' policy people about one of the election's most important issues- was definitely one of the coolest things I've stopped to do on my morning commute.

-Marcia Newbert, Intern

Campaign, Events, Health Policy, Internship, Public Affairs

Monday morning brought the unfortunate news that the Alzheimer's drug from Myriad Pharmaceuticals (a Spectrum client) did not show statistical significance in improving cognition or helping patients with day-to-day activities. The Company announced that it's discontinuing development of the drug, called Flurizan.

It's no surprise that all of the resulting media coverage yesterday focused on the financial implications to Myriad, its European partner Lundbeck, and investors. But I hope that in the days to follow that media and other online communities make mention of the profound setback to hope for Alzheimer's disease patients and families, whose stock will continue its decline. The now-broken promise that Flurizan meant to millions of people with Alzheimer's and those who advocate for them such as the Alzheimer's Association and the Alliance for Aging Research is a major setback, and worthy of much more coverage as well as continued resolve in research efforts. The toll on lives and costs to society from inadequately treated or prevented AD is mounting and unavoidable unless we succeed with major advances in drug discovery and development.

As much or as little as the cost of health care takes to the stage in the Presidential politicking through November, the next time Mssrs. Obama or McCain pledge to "go after the drug companies," ask yourself which companies. The ones investing - and risking - millions in Alzheimer's drug research?

-John Seng, Founder and President

Alzheimer’s, alzheimers disease, Health care industry, myriad

Not quite three weeks ago in this blog, I hinted at the announcement of a "pretty cool" information tool that we developed through Spectrum's partnership in GLOBALHealthPR.

If you're a global pharma marketing director or product communications manager, how do you keep all the regulatory do's and don't's straight, from Japan to Germany? What if somebody collected it all and published one simple guidebook?

Ooops, we just did it. And not again, but for the first time.

Ladies and gentleman, today's the premiere of The Global Guide to Pharma Marketing Codes, the first-ever compendium that reviews the widely varying guidelines to prescription drug marketing in major international markets.

Click here for a preview.

-John Seng, Founder and President

Global Public Relations, Health care industry, pharmaceutical industry, PR industry

The Public Affairs team just launched Health Care in the Capitol^®, a monthly e-newsletter that keeps pace with the rapidly changing landscape of health care policy on Capitol Hill. With Health Care in the Capitol^®, we will be an intelligent aggregator and editor of news with a keen outlook as to what's gaining traction among legislators and their staff. If you're strapped for time and not interested in poring through reams of language to find out what developments will speak to you and your business, Health Care in the Capitol^® will become your "go to" resource.

We'll make Health Care in the Capitol^® easy to navigate, interactive and engaging. We won't be using just articles to tell the stories, but video, audio, links to credible blogs and graphics - it's a fusion of health care news and digital media. To check out our inaugural issue, click here.

Coming up with content is the easy part - but anyone in communications knows it's all about creating a name or brand that stands apart. After much discourse, "Health Care in the Capitol" was suggested. We knew our readers would wonder, since we are located in Washington, aren't we talking about the nation's capital, as in the town? Or, are we referring to the Capitol, a campus of chambers and caucuses, Congressmen and corridors? Finally, after much back and forth, we decided to use "Capitol." In true form, we agreed that the newsletter, though reported from the nation's capital, is about the activity of the Capitol complex and the policy discussions, political debates and competing punditry that fill its halls.

We hope you will join us from the nation's capital as we distribute information and seek creative, innovative ways to communicate the legislative activities on Capitol Hill.

Cap•i•tol [kap-i-tl] n.
The building in Washington, D.C. where the U.S. Congress meets. Designed by self-taught architect, Dr. William Thornton, in 1792. A complex that includes Senate and House office buildings, the Supreme Court, the Library of Congress and more. A campus that is central to the implementation of law, policy and a place that guides the national rhetoric of democratic politics.

Cap•i•tal [kap-i-tl] n.
The city or town that is the official seat of government in a country, state, etc. Ex: Washington is the capital of the U.S.

-Erica Anderson, Account Executive

health care issues, political world, politicos, Public Affairs