Fattah Pushes Global Neuroscience Efforts to Australia, UK Audiences

WASHINGTON, March 18, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Congressman Chaka Fattah (D-PA) continued pushing worldwide neuroscience cooperation in two separate international appearances via video conference this week. On Monday, Congressman Fattah addressed policymakers and researchers in the United Kingdom during a roundtable on dementia. The remarks came as part of an official congressional delegation (codel) trip sponsored by the United Kingdom Science and Innovation Network that brought together leaders from the UK's Challenge on Dementia with key dementia policymakers in the United States.

Fattah's Chief of Staff joined other Members of Congress and representatives from the Department of Health and Human Services on the London codel. The group toured research laboratories, met with Members of Parliament, and held a series of roundtables all designed to facilitate an exchange of ideas, efforts, and policies around dementia. It comes three months after British Prime Minister David Cameron lead the G8 Dementia Summit—under the UK's G8 presidency—which concluded with an agreement to collectively pursue an international effort to approach the challenges of dementia.

"The United Kingdom, with Prime Minister Cameron's leadership, is taking an aggressive response to dementia. I applaud these efforts and am excited as we join forces to fight this global disease," Congressman Fattah said.

Continuing a week of international efforts, Fattah was also recognized today in Sydney, Australia, with the Pioneer in Healthcare Policy Award at the 11^th Annual World Congress of the Society for Brain Mapping and Therapeutics (SBMT). SBMT's World Congress brings together physicians, scientists, policy makers, and funding agencies to further the advances and applications in brain and spinal cord mapping.

In addition to delivering a welcome address to the conference, Fattah was honored alongside Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott with the prestigious award recognizing lawmakers who have demonstrated visionary and cross-disciplinary approaches to the advancement of science, technology, education, and medicine.

In his acceptance remarks, Fattah thanked Australia for its commitment to brain research, citing the country's $250 million investment to develop a bionic brain. Fattah also announced to the group that he will be drafting an international Memorandum of Understanding between the European Union, United States, and Israel to partner on their respective brain efforts.

"I'm going to lead the way to put this agreement in place—so rather than compete, we can cooperate. It's important to take note and appreciate the fact that scientists have always been willing to cooperate, and I think that we need to create—as policymakers—the framework under which that can take place," Fattah said.

His full acceptance remarks can be viewed here: http://vimeo.com/vc1/review/88951111/178ba6a2f5.

In 2011, Congressman Fattah created the Fattah Neuroscience Initiative (FNI) as a non-incremental policy initiative seeking to achieve groundbreaking progress in understanding the human brain.  FNI has focused on creating partnerships and collaborations, both within the United States and abroad, to expand the scope of support, tools, and funding dedicated to neuroscience research. 

SOURCE Office of Congressman Chaka Fattah