Other Diseases of Aging

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• Podcast
  CER Interview with Cynthia Bens
  
  August 14, 2012
  Related topics: Access to Breakthroughs    Aging Research  Drug Development  Drug Safety  Federal Funding  Health  Medical Innovation  Other Diseases of Aging  Policy  Quality of Care  Research  Vision Loss  
  
  
  
  

  Cynthia Bens is the Director of Public Policy at the not-for-profit Alliance for Aging Research in Washington, D.C. In this capacity, Ms. Bens is responsible for guiding the organization's federal policy work, representing the Alliance in multiple national coalitions, and directing the Accelerate Cure/Treatments for Alzheimer's Disease (ACT-AD) Coalition. For the past eleven years Ms. Bens has worked to inform federal policymakers and educate the public on a variety of issues. For more than half of that time her efforts have centered on the formulation of policies to expedite the development of interventions to treat and prevent many debilitating age-related disease; to remove access barriers to needed treatments and therapies; and to improve the coordination and quality of care seniors receive.

  
  

  
  

  Prior to joining the Alliance in 2006, Ms. Bens was a senior manager of government affairs with the Loeffler Group. As part of its federal government affairs practice, she represented diverse client interests before the U.S. Congress and the administration. Her core areas of focus included appropriations, budget, health care, education, telecommunications, and international trade. Through various other positions on Capitol Hill and in the private sector, she has acquired extensive experience researching and analyzing federal legislation and regulations. Ms. Bens holds a Bachelor’s of Arts degree from New York University with concentrations in Political Science and Women’s Studies. 

  
  

   

  
  

   "However, if {CER} results are poorly communicated, the availability of more information could lead to confusion for patients on what choices are the right ones for them and also confusion for providers on how they should treat their patients."

  
  
• Podcast
  CER Interview with David Meltzer
  
  August 14, 2012
  Related topics: Aging Research  Drug Development  Drug Safety  Federal Funding  Medical Innovation  Other Diseases of Aging  Policy  Prevention  Quality of Care  Research  Vision Loss  
  
  
  David O. Meltzer MD, PhD, is Chief of the Section of Hospital Medicine, Director of the Center for Health and the Social Sciences, and Chair of the Committee on Clinical and Translational Science at The University of Chicago, where he is Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine, Department of Economics and the Harris School of Public Policy Studies.  Meltzer’s research explores problems in health economics and public policy with a focus on the theoretical foundations of medical cost-effectiveness analysis and the cost and quality of hospital care. Meltzer is completing a randomized trial comparing the use of doctors who specialize in inpatient care (“hospitalists”) with traditional physicians in six academic medical centers and is Director of the AHRQ-funded Hospital Medicine and Economics Center for Education and Research in Therapeutics (CERT) at the University of Chicago.

  
  

  Meltzer received his MD and PhD in economics from the University of Chicago and completed his residency in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Meltzer is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Lee Lusted Prize of the Society for Medical Decision Making, the Health Care Research Award of the National Institute for Health Care Management, and the Eugene Garfield Award from Research America. Meltzer is a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, and past president of the Society for Medical Decision Making. He has served on panels examining the future of Medicare for the National Academy of Social Insurance and the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and U.S. organ allocation policy for the Institute of Medicine (IOM). He is currently serving on an IOM panel on the Learning Health Care System, the DHHS Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Healthy People 2020,and the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute Methodology Committee, as a Council Member of the National Institute for General Medical Studies, and as a health economics advisor for the Congressional Budget Office.

  
  

  "Off label use is common, and I think we allow it from a societal perspective because, if we limit ourselves only to things for which strong evidence exists, we will miss opportunities to do benefit."
• Podcast
  CER Interview with Hon. Tony Coelho
  
  March 1, 2012
  Related topics: Aging Research  Drug Development  Drug Safety  Health  Medical Innovation  Other Diseases of Aging  Policy  Quality of Care  Research  Vision Loss  
  
  
  Hon. Tony Coelho, is a former United States congressman from California, and primary author and sponsor of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
  
  In March 2009, Coelho was named as Chairperson for the Partnership to Improve Patient Care (PIPC). In this capacity, Coelho will work to amplify the voice of the partnership’s diverse members, including people with disabilities, racial and ethnic communities and the elderly, among others. Coelho also serves as board Chairman of the America Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), the country’s largest cross-disability membership organization.
  
  Coelho was elected to Congress in 1978 and served for six terms until 1989. He served on the Agriculture, Interior, Veterans Affairs, and Administration Committees during his tenure, specializing in disabled rights. In 1986, Coelho was elected House Majority Whip. As the chief vote counter for his party, Coelho oversaw a series of Democratic victories in the House on measures ranging from the budget to cutting off funds for the war in Central America.
  
  Coelho was the original author of the Americans with Disabilities Act, signed into law by President George H.W. Bush. By 1994, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that some 800,000 more people with severe disabilities had found employment than were employed when the bill was first enacted. The promise of Coelho’s political career had been redeemed by the disabled community from whose ranks he had arisen.
  
  President Bill Clinton appointed Coelho to serve as Chairman of the President’s Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities, a position he held from 1994 to 2001. He also served as Vice Chair of the National Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities. In 1998, Clinton appointed Coelho as the United States Commissioner General at the 1998 World Expo in Portugal. Clinton also appointed Coelho as Co-Chair to the U.S. Census Monitoring Board, a position he held until his appointment as general chairman of the Gore presidential campaign.
  
  Coelho now makes his home in Rehoboth Beach, DE. He participates annually at New York Law School for its Tony Coelho Lecture in Disability Employment Law & Policy. He has endowed a chair in Public Policy at the University of California in Merced and also in Neurology for Pediatric Surgery at UCLA. In addition to currently chairing Life Without Limits and the Disability Pride & Power Committee, he serves on the Epilepsy Foundation Board of Directors.
  
  

  "Medical decisions should never be determined by clinical trials by the government or insurers, I think they should be determined by the Doctor with the patient. "

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