Paul G. Rogers Distinguished Organization Advocacy Award
March of Dimes will receive Research!America's 2010 Paul G. Rogers Distinguished Organization Advocacy Award. The award recognizes March of Dimes' decades of successful advocacy for maternal and child health research and services.
March of Dimes will be honored March 16, 2010, at the 14th Annual Research!America Advocacy Awards event at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C. Jennifer L. Howse, Ph.D., March of Dimes president, and Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, granddaughter of March of Dimes founder President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, will accept the award.
Established by President Roosevelt in 1938 to conquer polio, for more than 72 years March of Dimes has been a leader in improving the health of women and children. The Foundation invests millions each year in cutting-edge research, supports community-based health services, and advocates on behalf of key national and state-based research agencies and organizations.
For many years the Foundation has been an ardent supporter of the National Institutes of Health and its research mission. March of Dimes was among the original proponents for establishing the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and continues its work to secure funding for NICHD research. More recently, the Foundation worked with Congress on several specific initiatives including enhancing preterm birth research, writing the bill that led to creation of the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and initiating both the PREEMIE Act of 2006 and the Newborn Screening Saves Lives Act of 2008. Last year, together with the American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Association of Children's Hospitals, March of Dimes spearheaded the advocacy campaign that led to reauthorization of the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which strengthened coverage for pregnant women and children and set the stage for improving the quality of pediatric care provided through Medicaid and CHIP.