Pediatric researcher is new ambassador for global health

Research!America, the nation’s largest nonprofit educational and advocacy alliance for health research, has named Michael Cappello, M.D., professor of pediatrics, microbial pathogenesis and public health, an Ambassador in the Paul G. Rogers Society for Global Health Research.

Cappello, an expert on the molecular basis of hookworm infection (see Advances), will join 26 other public health “scientist advocates” to foster a national discussion on the importance of research to improve global health. The ambassadors will meet with opinion leaders and decision makers to convey the importance of global health research to Americans.

The Rogers Society, named for the former Florida congressman and chair emeritus of Research!America, was launched by the alliance this year with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The society was formed to increase awareness of research on diseases that disproportionately affect the world’s poorest nations and to make the case for greater U.S. investment in that research.

Research!America will provide advocacy leadership development to the inaugural group of ambassadors and will facilitate their public outreach and advocacy by arranging speaking engagements and a range of community-level activities to connect with policy makers, the media and the public nationwide.