Michael Merson, MD, a professor at Duke University, has been named an Ambassador in Research!America's Paul G. Rogers Society for Global Health Research. Merson is now one of 51 of the nation's foremost global health experts who have joined forces to increase awareness about the critical need for greater U.S. public and private investment in research to improve global health.
"Our nation's leaders must understand that increased U.S. investment in global health research will not only help improve health conditions in impoverished countries, it will help to prevent the emergence and spread of diseases that can endanger Americans here and abroad," said Merson. "Put simply, it's a matter of national security."
Merson is the founding Director of the Duke Global Health Institute and Professor of Medicine, Community and Family Medicine, and Public Policy at Duke University. Prior to this position, he served for ten years as the first Dean of Public Health at Yale University School of Medicine and seven years as Director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS at Yale. Previously he worked for 17 years with the World Health Organization (WHO) serving first as Director of the Diarrheal Diseases Control and Acute Respiratory Control Programs and subsequently as Executive Director of the WHO Global Program on AIDS. Merson will work to raise the visibility of global health research through the news media and in meetings with policy makers, opinion leaders and the public. One of his central messages will be to stress the importance of effective collaboration among the nation's government, industry, academic, patient advocacy and philanthropic research sectors.
"Investing in global health research is the smart thing to do for America and the right thing to do for the world," said The Honorable John Edward Porter, chair of the Society's Advisory Council and Research!America board chair. "Dr. Merson has personally seen the value of saving lives and protecting health around the world, and his insights will help bring this important story to more Americans."
The Society, named for The Honorable Paul G. Rogers, a former Florida Congressman and renowned champion for research to improve health, was established in 2006 by Research!America with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In its first two years, the Society's Advisory Council—which includes three Nobel Laureates—selected 51 of the nation's leading scientist advocates to serve as Ambassadors.
Research!America is the nation's largest not-for-profit public education and advocacy alliance working to make research to improve health a higher national priority. Founded in 1989, it is supported by 500 member organizations that together represent the voices of more than 125 million Americans. Visit www.researchamerica.org for more information.