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Dear ANA members: Greetings! As the first quarter of the year draws to a close, we hope that you all are doing well and have been able to enjoy the changing of the seasons. Preparations for this year’s Annual Meeting are underway, and we also are working on making a number of other opportunities available to you listed below, as well as to advocate on behalf of neurological research. Please note that the 2022 ANA Board of Directors nominations are still open; the final day to nominate yourself or someone else is May 6. All ANA members in good standing are eligible for nomination, and we welcome everyone who is interested in participating in managing the business and affairs of the Association as a Board member to consider putting themselves forward. We are pleased to share that ANA endorsed a letter from members of the Ad Hoc Group of Medical Research in support of a Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 recommendation that members of Congress pass a bipartisan initiative committing at least $49 billion to base-level funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The letter also recommends that funding for the new ARPA-H and for other targeted programs, like pandemic preparedness, supplement that base budget. In the newsletter below, there is also information about how you can also lend your voice to ANA’s advocacy by contacting your Congressional representative to ask that they support funding both a Neuroscience Center of Excellence (NCOE) at the FDA and the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative. |
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There is also important news to share about coverage of Biogen’s Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm™ (aducanumab). The drug has been approved by the FDA; however, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has decided to limit coverage to patients in clinical trials. Our ANA experts are involved in the national discussion as to next steps. “The clinical evidence isn’t yet convincing that Aduhelm showed a clinical benefit, so I think deciding that for it to be paid for would have to be in a randomized clinical trial to make sense,” said ANA Past President David M. Holtzman, MD, FANA, the Barbara Burton and Reuben M. Morriss III Distinguished Professor of Neurology and Scientific Director of the Hope Center for Neurological Disorders at Washington University School of Medicine. Click here to read the full article.
Governance Council The ANA Governance Council chaired by Eva Feldman, MD, PhD, FANA is now in force and is poised to assist the Board of Directors in ensuring ANA continues to provide you with valuable resources and support. The Council’s focus is on creating better efficiency, removing overlap, and allowing more opportunities for a greater and more diverse membership engagement in the committees. We’ll be making these adjustments before the beginning of the next fiscal year, which starts in October, and they will be reflected in the call for volunteers that you will be seeing in June. We will continue to apprise you of new developments as they unfold. If you’re not sure where you fit or would like to learn more about any of the committees, we welcome you to contact info@myana.org with any questions.
Annual Meeting (October 22–25, 2022) Overview and Updates We are excited to have some new opportunities available for ANA2022. Although the abstract submission period is closed, we will be accepting late breaking abstracts beginning on May 3, and submissions will be open through June 1. Late breaking abstracts are those that demonstrate new and scientifically important research, key aspects of which must have been conducted after April 15, 2022. We look forward to reviewing your submissions. Now that the meeting is being held in-person again, we will again be selecting the top-ranked abstracts submitted by fellows, residents, and early-career faculty and granting their authors Annual Meeting Travel Awards. We are particularly excited to share with you that, for the first time, recipients of Travel Awards will be eligible to apply for Dependent Care Travel Grants of up to $500 to assist with costs associated with the care of dependent(s) while attending the Annual Meeting. In addition, the deadline for the nomination-based ANA Awards has been extended until May 6, so you still have time to submit. Online registration for the meeting is now open. An early bird registration rate will be available for all who register by September 16, 2022. Be sure to renew your membership before you register, since ANA members also receive a discount on the registration fee. Please note that the ANA2022 Meeting Recordings Package is complimentary for attendees who register for the full ANA2022 meeting. The package includes recordings of the 7 Plenary sessions and 18 SIG presentations, including the new cross-cutting SIG categories. Using ANA OnDEC, the ANA’s online education portal, you may easily view the videos and secure AMA PRA Category I Credits. And please be sure to share the information in the registration toolkit included in the newsletter below with your colleagues! The ANA2022 Schedule at a Glance is now available; we have a full slate of educational offerings planned, and you will be able to claim CME credits for eligible sessions. There will also be many opportunities for networking and spending time with colleagues in person again after our long time apart. We will continue to work to make ANA2022 a rewarding experience for all who attend, and we look forward to seeing you there. In the meantime, we encourage you to continue to take advantage of the many educational resources we have available to you, including the ANA2021 Meeting Recordings, which you can access until October.
Regards, |
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Frances E. Jensen, MD, FANA, FACP Arthur Knight Asbury, MD Professor of Neurology Chair of the Department of Neurology Co-Director Penn Medicine Translational Neuroscience Center Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania |