Foundation Update

I hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday Season and a Happy New Year! To kick off the New Year, the Foundation of the National Lipid Association (FNLA) is hard at work with new projects and partnerships.

Most recently, the FNLA collaborated with Sanofi US and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. in their launching of an unbranded cholesterol awareness campaign, “Cholesterol Counts” on Dec. 15, 2014. The campaign consists of polling patients on their base knowledge of cholesterol, lipid disorders, and their own risk associated with LDL-C. The poll is being disseminated through an unbranded website, CholesterolCounts.com, and through a market research firm — Harris, a Nielsen company.

Ralph M. Vicari, MD, FACC, FNLA, will act as the Foundation’s program spokesman in this effort. The FNLA will help market the campaign via media interviews and publications and the FNLA’s social media accounts. The final results of the poll will provide a snapshot of cholesterol awareness levels across the country and will be revealed in a full paper to be released in December 2015. This collaboration is focused on helping to address the unmet needs of cardiovascular health and the role cholesterol plays. It is our hope to provide resources to help patients better understand and take control of their heart health.

In addition, the Foundation will be sponsoring a special abstract award at the 2015 NLA Annual Scientific Sessions in Chicago from June 11–14, 2015. In honor of Donald B. Hunninghake, MD, a pioneer in lipid research, the Foundation is offering The Foundation of the National Lipid Association Donald Hunninghake Familial Hypercholesterolemia Abstract Award for the best submitted abstract specifically in the area of familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) research.

Dr. Hunninghake — a graduate of the University of Kansas Medical School — had an illustrious career dedicated to the causes and prevention of heart disease. In addition to his work in lipids, Dr. Hunninghake served as the director of the Heart Disease Prevention Clinic at the University of Minnesota. He contributed to numerous clinical trials of important lipid- lowering medications as well as outcomes trials involving lipid lowering.

The Foundation has had a significant focus geared toward patient awareness and education concerning disorders such as FH, and this award has been created in order to continue that focus and to further encourage clinicians in their research and study of familial hypercholesterolemia. The winner will be determined by the Foundation of the NLA Board of Directors once the abstract committee has approved the abstracts in this category. The award — $1,500 and a $1,000 travel grant — will be presented to the winner at the Honors and Awards Ceremony at the NLA 2015 Annual Scientific Sessions. Please check lipid.org/abstracts for more information on submitting an abstract in this category for consideration of this award. The Foundation is looking forward to seeing exciting research in this very important area.