NMA Archives

2007-2008

Call to Action for Melanoma Research

It is as simple as 1-2-3

The Congress is in the process of developing their budgets and appropriations activities for the fiscal year 2010 which begins October 1, 2009. Now is the time to let your voices be heard.

1. Please write a personal letter  to your member of Congress about melanoma research.

2. Send an email to admin@nationalmelanomaalliance.org to add your organization's name to the NMA Group letter. Include your name, your role in the organization, email contact, phone number and organization website address.

3. Email us and forward a copy and let us know which members you sent letters to so we can follow up.

Excerpts from the Fiscal 2008 Senate Committee Report/National Cancer Institute section.

The Committee:

• Strongly encourages NCI to devote sufficient funds in those areas of research opportunity identified by the Plan; and solicit the best, most competitive research proposals in targeted opportunity areas


• Directs NCI to report by July 1, 2008, on steps it has taken to implement the Strategic Action Plan for Melanoma Research.


• Encourages NCI to support the creation of a Melanoma Investigators Consortium, and to fund a multi-site, multiyear, population-based clinical trial to test the efficacy of early detection methods


• Recommends increased collaboration between NCI and NIAMS (National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Disease) on its melanoma research activities.

2007-2008 Agenda

The Alliance, hand in hand with collaborating organizations, made strides on many fronts in advancing our 2007 Agenda. 

This agenda, addressing the critical need for greater research and public awareness of skin cancer prevention, consisted of:

• Established the National Melanoma Alliance to represent the collective voice of the melanoma patient and advocacy communities 
• Gaining melanoma-specific language in the National Cancer Institute section of the Committee Report accompanying the 2008 Labor Health and Human Services Appropriations bill. 
• Advocating for an increase from $2.1 million to $5 million for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's skin cancer prevention activities.
• Melanoma included in the diseases eligible for research funding from the Dept of Defense Peer-Reviewed Medical Research Program.
• Securing congressional action on the Tanning Accountability and Notification Act of 2007.  
• Restoring $1.5 million in the Fiscal 2008 Interior Appropriations bill for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's SunWise Program (designed to teach school children to protect themselves from overexposure to the sun).