Albert Lasker
Public Service Award

Award Description

Paul Rogers
Nancy Wexler
 
Paul Rogers
For tireless leadership in advancing the cause of American health care through his initiatives both as a legislator and as a private citizen.

Virtually every major health law in the United States bears the mark of Paul Rogers. Now a partner in a Washington, D.C. law firm, Mr. Rogers served for 24 years in the U.S. House of Representatives from the 11th District of Florida. Of those 24 years, eight were spent as Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Health and Environment, a position in which he achieved national recognition as an innovative and hard-working leader. His colleagues referred to him as "Mr. Health."

In directing his energies to assuring that all Americans have access to high quality medical services, Mr. Rogers has also been instrumental in encouraging investments in both basic and clinical research.

Among the prominent pieces of legislation which Mr. Rogers sponsored or played a major role in enacting are the National Cancer Act of 1971 and 1977; Health Manpower Training Act; Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970; Research On Aging Act; Medical Device Amendments of 1976; Emergency Medical Services Act; Health Maintenance Organization Act; Clean Air Act; Safe Drinking Water Act; Radiation Control for Health and Safety Act, and the Medicare-Medicaid Anti-Fraud and Abuse Amendments of 1977.

As a private citizen, Mr. Rogers has continued to demonstrate the same qualities of leadership in shaping health care as he did in his terms in Congress. He has developed and serves on the boards of organizations that are at the forefront of patient and health care policies. Many of these organizations also directly support basic and clinical research, advocate greater research funding, or support advancement of medical knowledge in other ways.

Mr. Rogers is founding chairman of the National Osteoporosis Foundation, which has helped bring this disease and women's health care issues to the forefront. He is also chairman of the National Council on Patient Information and Education, the Friends of the National Library of Medicine, and the University of Virginia Health Science Council. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and co-chairman of the National Leadership Coalition for Health Care Reform.

To Paul Rogers, for his tireless, compassionate and visionary leadership in securing the access of all Americans to the highest quality health care and in the quest for cures for humanity's worst diseases, this 1993 Albert Lasker Public Service Award is given.
 
Nancy Wexler
For her groundbreaking work in the scientific and public arenas towards finding a cure for Huntington's disease and for increasing awareness of all genetic disease.

Dr. Wexler has played a pivotal role in recent progress toward a cure for Huntington's disease. Learning that her family was affected by the disease, she did not bemoan her situation, but rose to the challenge and used her adversity to set her life goal to conquering this late-onset, invariably fatal genetic disorder. Through her work with the Hereditary Disease Foundation, she has mobilized the American public to the importance of genetic diseases.

Working in Venezuela, Dr. Wexler and her colleagues constructed an enormous pedigree of over 13,000 individuals, collecting blood samples from more than 3000 people with Huntington's disease in their families. These samples led to the discovery of the Huntington's disease gene at the tip of human chromosome 4 and the recent identification of the gene itself.

Localization of the gene marked the first time that recombinant DNA markers were used successfully to identify a gene whose chromosomal assignment was unknown. The availability of markers tightly linked to the gene led to the development of a presymptomatic test for Huntington's disease. Dr. Wexler directed one of the world's first research programs on genetic counseling and delivery of this test.

Not only has she brought her formidable scientific talents to bear, but her personal charisma has marshaled an army of scientists, citizens and clinicians to work together to attack this genetic disease, and in so doing has provided an example to people working on analogous disorders in other fields.

Dr. Wexler serves as President of the Hereditary Disease Foundation, where she guides its unique workshop program designed to educate scientists and catalyze research on the key biological questions posed by Huntington's disease and other hereditary disorders. The Hereditary Disease Foundation, founded by Dr. Milton Wexler, has been a major vehicle for stimulating interest in Huntington's disease and allied disorders in the scientific community and bringing them to the attention of the public.

To Dr. Nancy Wexler, for her extraordinary research that led to the localization and later identification of the Huntington's disease gene and for mobilizing research, policy development and scientific advocacy in the worldwide effort to find a cure, this 1993 Albert Lasker Public Service Award is given.