2013 PPC IS AROUND THE CORNER

The National MS Society’s 22nd annual Public Policy Conference (PPC) is only a month away! For those of you who don’t know, the PPC brings over 300 MS activists to Washington, D.C. to educate members of Congress about MS and about federal issues and budget matters that are important to the MS community.

Medical research funding is seriously threatened in the current economic climate, so at the 2013 PPC, MS activists will speak to their federal legislators about the need to protect MS research funding. MS research funding both through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) help us better understand MS and fuel future solutions to STOP MS in its tracks, RESTORE lost function and END MS forever. MS activists will also talk about the importance of funding for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which ensures that drugs and medical devices are safe and effective for public use and provides patients with confidence in new technology. In addition to supporting our this funding, MS activists will urge their legislators to join the Congressional MS Caucus and support MS Awareness Week, which takes place the week after the PPC.

This month, we will be highlighting stories of those who have declared themselves MS activists and will talk about how their lives have been affected by research, therapies and technology. We hope that these stories strengthen and inspire you as we move forward towards the PPC.  Not coming to the PPC but want to be involved? Great! Help us by sharing your story about MS research or why more effective therapies are important to you. Click here to share your story. We’ll give you many other opportunities leading up to the PPC and afterward to engage. 

If you are headed to the PPC, we cannot wait to see you! Please start thinking about what MS research, increased understanding of the disease and more effective therapies mean to you and your loved ones to help tell your important story to your federal legislators.