Posted by deb butterfield on December 10, 1997 at 00:49:43:
In Reply to: JDF/NASA Workshop posted by Al Gordon on December 09, 1997 at 07:54:11:
What a terrific report! Although my name was omitted in the list of attendees I attended the meeting in my capacity as a Director of JDF government relations and as the Executive Director of the Insulin-Free World Foundation. As you will recall it was I who addressed the group with comments about the importance of strategy. In my comments I suggested that participants should help the JDFI by clearly stating:
The objective(s) of their research projects
The obstacles they confront
The resources required to overcome them; staffing, funding, equipment etc.
The contribution their success will make to the overall goal of eradicating diabetes.
The time frame in which they can expect to achieve their objectives.
I suggested that a McKinsey consultant be retained to coordinate these strategies into an overall strategy for the purposes of JDFI funding. As you'll remember Emily Spitzer responded to my comments by saying that the JDF task force had been established for just such a purpose and that they had already hired a McKinsey consultant. I think it is unfortunate that this consultant did not attend this meeting and did not preface the meeting by requesting a two page summary from each participant prior to the event. I am still not clear on the reason that the meeting was called together at such short notice and hope that in the future, more respect will be extended to the participants with better organization.
Al, it is really terrific to hear you adding a positive voice to our united goal of finding solutions for the problems of diabetes. The JDFI is one of the most powerful tools we have to open doors to better health care policy, government funding and private contributions. Because of the JDFI and the Congressional Diabetes Caucus, diabetes is now a household word in the United Stated Government.