NEGJTPDNDX
by Chapter President, Laurie Lachowitzer
Imagine-Inspire-Invent was the title
of the annual JDRF Conference held in May in Washington, D.C. I had
the opportunity to attend with fellow board member,
April Cohen, and our executive director, Sara Rankin. What a whirlwind
couple of days we had. Visits to Capitol Hill were scheduled to impress
upon our
elected officials the importance of funding diabetes research. We met
personally with
Representative Katherine Harris as well as a legislative assistant in Connie
Mack’s office. JDRF is seeking to expand our database of advocates to meet
our legislative and grassroots goals. Please sign up on the jdrf.org
Web site if
you can help in this way.
Our new president and CEO, Arnold Donald, impressed
me with his energy, humor and approach. I think he will have a profoundly
positive impact on the
culture
of our organization. He is determined to accelerate our efforts. Our
goal remains to find a cure for diabetes but we are also going to drive
the
discovery, development
and delivery of therapeutics to improve the lives of people living with
diabetes. We will work with the industry to help companies develop products.
For example,
an artificial pancreas is just around the corner. It will consist of
an insulin pump, a continuous blood glucose monitor and a means for them
to
communicate with one another. We heard from people who are using such
a system and
it has
dramatically bettered their diabetes management.
It was particularly nice for me to attend this conference as my son,
Seth, has been interning at the Government Relations office of JDRF.
I was so
proud to see him in action and to spend time with him, working side-by-side
with him
at a cause that is so near and dear to us both. I left the conference
inspired to imagine a world without diabetes. I hope you will continue
to help us
meet that goal.
Congratulations to Us!
At the National Awards Banquet we were awarded an Excellence in Major
Gifts Award due to Sara Rankin securing $600,000 in major gifts
last year. Hooray!
Job well done, Sara.
