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First Lady Launches President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition Mrs.
Obama joins Washington, DC-area kids to unveil expanded mission of Council, introduce 2010 Council Co-Chairs and Members
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, First Lady Michelle Obama joined
kids from the Washington, DC area to launch the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition and introduce the
2010 Council co-chairs and members. In conjunction with the First Lady’s Let’s Move! initiative,
this year President Obama has broadened the scope of the Council, formerly known as the President’s Council on Physical
Fitness and Sports, to include a focus on healthy eating as well as active lifestyles. Yesterday, the President signed
an Executive Order outlining the Council’s new emphasis on both good nutrition and physical fitness.
The President has named Drew Brees, quarterback for the New Orleans Saints, and Dominique
Dawes, three-time Olympian and former U.S. national champion in women’s gymnastics, 2010 Council Co-Chairs. Dawes
delivered remarks at the event and Brees recorded a video message that was shown there. Joining Dawes at the event were
2010 Council Members Dan Barber, Tedy Bruschi, Allyson Felix, Michelle Kwan, Curtis Pride, Donna Richardson Joyner, Dr. Ian
Smith, Carl Edwards, Cornell McClellan and Dr. Stephen McDonough. Council Executive Director, Shellie Pfohl, was also
in attendance. Following the announcement, the First Lady, Pfohl and the Council Members joined the kids in participating
in a series of activity stations.
“This year
we’re expanding the work of the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition to include not just a focus
on active lifestyles, but on healthy eating, too,” Mrs. Obama said. “The Council will play
an important role in our effort to help combat childhood obesity in this country and I am grateful to the athletes, chefs,
doctors and nutrition experts who are volunteering their time on the Council to help make a difference.”
The President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition
is a committee of volunteer citizens who advise the President through the Secretary of Health and Human Services about opportunities
to develop accessible, affordable and sustainable physical activity, fitness, sports and nutrition programs for all Americans
regardless of age, background or ability. The Council’s mission is to engage, educate and empower all Americans
to adopt a healthy lifestyle that includes regular physical activity and good nutrition. For more information about
the Council and its members, visit www.fitness.gov.
In addition to its presidential advisory role, the
Council promotes and maintains the President’s Challenge Physical Activity and Fitness Awards program (President’s
Challenge) which encourages all Americans to include physical activity – 30 minutes per day for adults and 60 minutes
per day for youth – in their daily lives. For more information about the President’s Challenge programs,
visit www.presidentschallenge.org.
President Obama announced
his intent to appoint the following individuals to the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition:
Drew Brees, Appointee for Co-Chair, President’s Council on Fitness, Sports
and Nutrition Drew
Brees is the 2009 Super Bowl MVP-winning quarterback for the New Orleans Saints. During Mr. Brees’s nine year
career, he has been elected to four Pro Bowls, named the 2004 Comeback player of the Year, a member of the 2006 All-Pro Team,
the 2006 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year, the 2008 NFL Offensive Player of the Year, and Super Bowl XLIV Champion and MVP.
Mr. Brees and his wife, Brittany, established the Brees Dream Foundation in 2003 and have raised or committed more than
$5.5 million to advance cancer research, care for cancer patients, and rebuild schools, parks, playgrounds, and athletic fields
in New Orleans, San Diego, and the Purdue/West Lafayette, Indiana communities. He attended Purdue University where he
earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial management from the Krannert School of Management while lettering in football
from 1997-2000.
Dominique Dawes, Appointee
for Co-Chair, President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition Dominique Dawes is an Olympic gymnast who competed in three Olympic
Games and has a permanent place in the U.S. Olympic Committee Hall of Fame. She was a member of the gold-medal-winning team
at the 1996 Atlanta Games, where she also won a bronze medal in the floor exercise, becoming the first female African-American
gymnast to win an individual medal. Now retired after dedicating 18 years to the sport, Ms. Dawes commits her time to motivational
speaking, hosting gymnastics clinics, and serving as a spokesperson for several organizations that support the physical and
emotional health of youth and women. She is an accomplished motivational speaker, speaking to audiences on topics focusing
on leadership, teamwork, physical and emotional health, fitness and overcoming obstacles.
Dan Barber, Appointee for Member, President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and
Nutrition Dan
Barber is a New York-based chef and co-owner of Blue Hill restaurant where
he features locally and sustainably grown foods. An advocate for local foods and good nutrition, Mr. Barber has addressed
these issues through op-eds in the New York Times and
articles in Gourmet, Saveur,
and Food and Wine Magazine. His writing has appeared in the annual “Best Food Writing” anthology for
the past five years. He has also teamed on projects with Harvard Medical School’s Center for Health and the Global Environment,
and New York City’s Greenmarkets. In 2009, Time Magazine recognized
him as one of the world’s most influential people of the year and he was named the top chef in America by the James
Beard Foundation.
Tedy Bruschi, Appointee for
Member, President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition Tedy Bruschi is a former football player who spent 13 years playing for the NFL’s
New England Patriots, claiming three Super Bowl rings. Mr. Bruschi is a spokesman for the American Heart Association and serves
on the Board of Trustees of Partners Continuing Care. He is a founder of Tedy’s Team, a foundation that aims to
raise funds for stroke research, inspired by Mr. Bruschi’s own experience. A stroke after the 2005 season left Mr. Bruschi
with partial paralysis and uncovered a congenital heart defect. After making a full recovery, he returned to form on the field,
leading his team in tackles for two seasons after his recovery. Mr. Bruschi played in the Pro Bowl in 2005 and twice
won the Ed Block Courage Award, presented to those who are voted by their teammates to be role models of inspiration, sportsmanship,
and courage. In 2006, he awarded with the Senator Paul E. Tsongas Award for Exemplary Public Service.
Carl Edwards, Appointee for Member, President’s Council on Fitness, Sports
and Nutrition Carl
Edwards is a championship NASCAR driver and currently in the top ten in the overall standings for both the Sprint Cup Series
and Nationwide Series. In the first 10 years of his career, Mr. Edwards has accumulated two NASCAR sanctioned track championships,
three Rookie-of-the-Year honors, and more than 75 feature wins while racing on both dirt and pavement tracks across the country.
In 2008, he won the Tag Heuer Top Racecar Driver of the Year Award, the NASCAR.COM Driver of the Year, and the National Motorsports
Press Association voted him as the Richard Petty Driver of the Year. He also supports charities including the Speedway
Children’s Charities, Dream Factory, and Victory Junction Gang Camp.
Allyson Felix, Appointee for Member, President’s Council on Fitness, Sports
and Nutrition Allyson
Felix is an accomplished Olympic gold medal track and field sprint athlete who helped the U.S. women’s 4x400 meter relay
team secure victory in the Beijing 2008 games. In the 200 meters, she is also a two-time Olympic silver medalist, a three-time
World Outdoor champion, and a five-time USA Outdoor champion. When Ms. Felix won the 2009 World Outdoor Championships, she
made history as the first woman to ever win three world 200-meter titles. She additionally has won two gold medals with the
World Outdoor 4x400 meter relay team and another in the World Outdoor 4x100 meter relay. Ms. Felix’s speed helped her
become the World Junior record holder in 2005 when she clocked 22.18 in the 200 meters as an 18-year old.
Grant Hill, Appointee for Member, President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and
Nutrition Grant
Hill is a professional basketball player with the NBA’s Phoenix Suns. He has made seven appearances in the NBA All-Star
Game and won a gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta as a member of the U.S. men’s basketball team. On the
court, he is lauded as one of the best all-around players in the game, recognized for his skill and sportsmanship. He has
won the NBA Sportsmanship Award three times, the only person to have received the honor more than once. He and his wife,
Tamia, are dedicated to multiple service organizations, including the Tamia & Grant Hill Foundation, the Make-A-Wish Foundation,
and the Grant and Tamia Hill Athletic Scholarship Endowment Fund.
Billie Jean King, Appointee for Member, President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and
Nutrition Billie
Jean King won 39 Grand Slam singles, doubles and mixed doubles tennis titles, including a record 20 titles at Wimbledon. She
left a mark on the sport and the women’s movement during the 1973 “Battle of the Sexes” match, in which
she defeated Bobby Riggs, a former number one player in the world. Ms. King founded the Women’s Tennis Association,
the Women’s Sports Foundation, and co-founded World TeamTennis, a co-ed professional tennis league. She was named a
“Global Mentor for Gender Equality” by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
in 2008, received the NCAA President’s Gerald R. Ford Award in 2009 for her contributions to improving higher education
and intercollegiate athletics, and earlier this year was honored with the Beacon of Change Award from Major League Baseball.
In August 2009, Ms. King was awarded with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, our nation’s highest civilian honor.
Michelle Kwan, Appointee for Member, President’s Council
on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition Michelle Kwan is the most decorated figure skater in U.S. history. She has won five world championships,
nine U.S. national championships and silver and bronze Olympic medals. In 2001 she received the Sullivan Award, given
to the top amateur athlete in America and in 2003 she was awarded the U.S. Olympic Committee Sports Woman of the Year.
Ms. Kwan currently serves as a public diplomacy envoy, an unpaid position with the U.S. State Department, charged with engaging
young people in dialogue on social and educational issues. She is also pursuing a master’s in international affairs
at Tufts University’s Fletcher School, having graduated from the University of Denver with a degree in international
studies in 2008.
Dr. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, Appointee
for Member, President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition Dr. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey is the President and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation,
a philanthropic organization devoted to improving health and health care. She is the first woman and the first African American
to lead the $8 billion Foundation. Among its major efforts to improve the nation’s health, the Foundation has committed
$500 million toward rolling back the epidemic of childhood obesity. Before joining the foundation, Dr. Lavizzo-Mourey
was a leader in academic medicine, government service, and her medical specialty of geriatrics. During her tenure at the University
of Pennsylvania, she served as a professor and the director of the University’s Institute on Aging. She also served
as the deputy administrator of what is now the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality. Dr. Lavizzo-Mourey earned her
medical degree from Harvard Medical School and her M.B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. In 2009,
Forbes named Dr. Lavizzo-Mourey one of the world’s 100 Most Powerful Women.
Cornell McClellan, Appointee for Member, President’s Council on Fitness, Sports
and Nutrition Cornell
McClellan, the owner of Naturally Fit, Inc., is the fitness consultant and personal trainer for President Barack Obama and
First Lady Michelle Obama. A black belt in Karate, Mr. McClellan has managed a youth fitness program and coached many young
athletes in his more than 30-year health and wellness career. He has also helped train several weight lifting enthusiasts
who earned the titles of Mr. Illinois, Mr. U.S.A., Mr. America and Mr. Universe. Additionally committed to good nutrition,
Mr. McClellan educates clients about food and has served on the international board for Earth Save, an organization that promotes
healthy eating choices and helps people transition toward healthy plant-based diets. He contributes weekly to the Chicago
Sun-Times, writing on issues of health and physical fitness.
Dr. Stephen McDonough, Appointee for Member, President’s Council on Fitness, Sports
and Nutrition Dr.
Stephen McDonough has worked for 30 years as a pediatrician in North Dakota. Dr. McDonough spent more than fifteen years
in senior positions at the North Dakota Department of Health. During his time at the Department of Health, Dr. McDonough
led efforts to prevent smoking and combat childhood obesity in North Dakota. A longtime faculty member at the University
of North Dakota Medical School, he has also published articles in the New England Journal of Medicine and Pediatrics, authored
a book on the history of public health in North Dakota, and worked for more than a decade with Boy Scouts of America. Dr.
McDonough graduated from the University of Minnesota Medical School and completed his pediatric residency at the University
of Colorado in Denver.
Chris
Paul, Appointee for Member, President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition Chris Paul is a professional basketball player and team captain
for the National Basketball Association’s New Orleans Hornets. In 2006, Mr. Paul was named NBA Rookie of the Year in
2006 and won an Olympic Gold Medal with the United States national basketball team. A native of Winston-Salem, NC and an All-American
at Wake Forest University, Paul currently holds the NBA record for consecutive games with a steal (108). He was a 2008-2009
NBA All-Defensive First Team selection and 2009-2010 Second Team selection. Off the court, Mr. Paul started the CP3 Foundation
with his family in 2006 to support his philanthropic efforts in both Winston-Salem and New Orleans, which include refurbishing
basketball courts and establishing scholarships.
Curtis Pride, Appointee for Member, President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition Curtis Pride is the head baseball
coach at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC, and a retired Major League Baseball player. In 1996 as a member of
the Detroit Tigers, Mr. Pride became the first regular full-season deaf player in the modern history of major league baseball.
At the close of his career in 2008, he had played 421 games, achieved a .250 career batting average, 20 home runs, and 82
runs batted in. Prior to his professional career, his athletic proficiency spanned several sports. In high school he was a
member of the U.S. soccer team that participated in the Junior World Cup in Beijing. In college he played part-time professional
baseball for the Mets organization while also attending the College of William and Mary as a four-year starting point guard
in basketball. In addition to coaching, Mr. Pride is active in the community, particularly with his Together With Pride foundation
which aids hearing impaired children.
Donna
Richardson Joyner, Appointee for Member, President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition Donna Richardson Joyner is a fitness
instructor who has spent more than 20 years working to educate, empower, and energize children, women, and families about
living healthy lifestyles. She has starred in more than 25 award-winning fitness videos, including “Sweating in the
Spirit,” and “Body Gospel.” Ms. Richardson Joyner has served on the Women’s Sports Foundation Board
of Trustees, is an advisory board member for the Boys and Girls Club of America, and serves on the national advisory board
of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Center to Prevent Childhood Obesity. She has lectured and conducted wellness
seminars at schools and community centers in more than 30 countries. In 2006 Ms. Richardson Joyner was inducted into the Fitness
Hall of Fame and named by Essence Magazine as one of the 25 most inspiring women in America.
Ian Smith, Appointee for Member, President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and
Nutrition Ian
Smith is a prominent healthy-living advocate. He is best known for his promotion of the 50 Million Pound Challenge and his
contributions to TV and radio programs including “Rachael Ray”, “The View”, “Celebrity
Fit Club”, and HealthWatch. Dr. Smith is also the author of seven books which include three New York Times bestsellers on nutrition. He currently serves on the national advisory board for the Maya Angelou Center for Health
Equity at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Dr. Smith attended Dartmouth Medical School before completing the last
two years of his medical education at the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Medicine. He received his master’s
in science education from Teachers College of Columbia University and undergraduate degree from Harvard College.
New Title IX Ruling Restores Women's Equality in Sports.
Martina Navratilova Confident in Breast Cancer Fight: Click to view video.
As Girls Become Women, Sports Pay Dividends Published: February 15, 2010, New York Times. Almost four decades after the federal education law called Title IX opened the door for girls to participate in high
school and college athletics, a crucial question has remained unanswered: Do sports make a long-term difference in a woman’s
life? A large body of research shows that sports are associated with all sorts of benefits, like lower teenage pregnancy rates, better grades and higher self-esteem. But until now, no one has determined whether those improvements are a direct
result of athletic participation. It may be that the type of girl who is attracted to sports already has the social, personal
and physical qualities — like ambition, strength and supportive parents — that will help her succeed in life. Now,
separate studies from two economists offer some answers, providing the strongest evidence yet that team sports can result
in lifelong improvements to educational, work and health prospects. At a time when the first lady, Michelle Obama, has begun a nationwide campaign to improve schoolchildren’s health, the lessons from Title IX show that school-based fitness efforts can have lasting effects. Title IX of the Education
Amendments of 1972 required schools and colleges receiving federal money to provide the same opportunities for girls as they
did for boys. Relatively few students, male or female, participate in intercollegiate sports. But the effects in high school
were remarkable. Just six years after the enactment of Title IX, the percentage of girls playing team sports had jumped sixfold,
to 25 percent from about 4 percent. Most research on Title IX has looked at national trends in girls’ sports.
Betsey Stevenson, an economist at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, has taken it a step further, focusing
on state-by-state variations. “I looked to see what it means to add sports to girls’ lives,” she
said. “How does it change things for them?” States with large boys’ sports programs had to make bigger
changes to achieve parity than states with smaller programs. Looking at the state-by-state statistics allowed Dr. Stevenson
to narrow her focus, comparing differences in sports participation with differences in women’s educational and work
achievement. So her study untangles the effects of sports participation from other confounding factors — school size, climate, social and personal
differences among athletes — and comes far closer to determining a cause and effect relationship between high school
sports participation and achievement later in life. Using a complex analysis, Dr. Stevenson showed that increasing girls’
sports participation had a direct effect on women’s education and employment. She found that the changes set in motion
by Title IX explained about 20 percent of the increase in women’s education and about 40 percent of the rise in employment
for 25-to-34-year-old women. “It’s not just that the people who are going to do well in life play sports,
but that sports help people do better in life,” she said, adding, “While I only show this for girls, it’s
reasonable to believe it’s true for boys as well.” Another question is whether Title IX has made a difference
in women’s long-term health. In a carefully conducted study, Robert Kaestner, an economics professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, compared rates of obesity and physical activity of women who had been in high school in the 1970s — as Title IX was taking effect — with similar women from earlier
years. Controlling the results for other influences, like age and changing diets, Dr. Kaestner was able to tease out the effects
Title IX had on women’s health. He found that the increase in girls’ athletic participation caused by Title
IX was associated with a 7 percent lower risk of obesity 20 to 25 years later, when women were in their late 30s and early
40s. His article was published this month in the journal Evaluation Review. Dr. Kaestner notes that while a 7 percent
decline in obesity is modest, no other public health program can claim similar success. And other studies have shown that
even a small drop in weight can lower risk for diabetes and other health problems. There is still room for improvement. Today about 1 in 3 high school girls play sports, compared
with about half of all boys. And participation varies widely by state, according to Dr. Stevenson’s research. Southern
states like Alabama, Louisiana and Tennessee still have big gender gaps, while Northern states like Maine, Minnesota, New
Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Vermont are closer to parity. “While we have more girls than ever before, we still
have far more boys playing sports than girls,” said Nicole M. LaVoi, associate director of the Tucker Center for Research
on Girls and Women in Sport at the University of Minnesota. “The research clearly states that when anybody, boys and girls, are physically active, they can reap developmental
and health benefits. But we haven’t reached equality yet.”
National Girls and Women In Sports DayArticle from "Women's Sports Foundation"
website. “Each year as we celebrate National Girls and Women in Sports Day,
we are reminded of the importance of maintaining a focus on, and creating an awareness of, the important issues facing women
and girls in this country and beyond.The powerful combination of sports, health and education found in programs administered
by organizations like the Women’s Sports Foundation not only directly benefits women and girls today, it lays a foundation
for growth for generations to come.” -- Women's Sports Foundation Founder Billie Jean King
Since its inception in 1987, National Girls and Women in Sports Day has become the premiere occasion to celebrate
the participation, success and accomplishments of girls and women athletes. What started in 1987 as a single event in Washington,
D.C. to honor Olympic volleyball star Flo Hyman has grown into a nationwide celebration across all 50 states. On February
3, 2010, thousands will gather to celebrate NGWSD 2010 and "Stay Strong, Play On." Athletes like Martina Navratilova,
Candace Parker or Jessica Mendoza who played or are still playing are making a difference, overcoming difficult circumstances,
breaking records and making things possible. Despite the stunning advances made in the 38 years since Title IX was enacted,
high school girls still receive 1.3 million fewer participation opportunities than do boys, and evidence suggests that the
money spent on girls' sports programs lags significantly behind the money spent on boys' programs. The Women’s
Sports Foundation is a member of the National Girls and Women in Sports Day (NGWSD) coalition. Other members include: Girls’
Incorporated, Girls Scouts of America, National Association for Girls and Women in Sport, and the National Women’s Law
Center. NGWSD is marked annually with events around the country and on Capitol Hill to commemorate the achievements
of girls and women in athletics. It is also an important day to promote the continued expansion of opportunities for girls
and women to play sports and live physically active lives. In addition to our work with the national NGWSD coalition’s
Washington, D.C. events, the Foundation will also be presenting its own “Stay Strong, Play On” Athlete Challenge
in honor of National Girls and Women in Sports Day. Dozens of champion athletes have taken to their Twitter, Facebook and
own personal websites to encourage followers, fans and friends to vote for them --- they are the best of the best, after all,
and they love to compete!
Billie Jean King's Women's Sports Foundation Article cites
Benefits of Sports to Women in this comprehensive, downloadable article on link below.
Click for facts on the benefit of Sports on women's health
Advocating for Girls’ Sports With a Sharp Tongue
 Jessica Kourkounis for The New York Times Robert H. Landau and his daughter Karen
Bleznak. His activism began in 1989 with her in high school. Published: November 29, 2009 New York Times HAVERFORD, Pa. —
Few girls who play sports in suburban Philadelphia would recognize Robert H. Landau, but many coaches and athletic directors
know that spotting him in the bleachers could spell trouble. No
slight to girls is too small for Landau to take on. His victories range from the momentous to the less obvious, like forcing
his daughters’ school district to provide more athletic choices, pressuring leagues to showcase their title games and
getting a school mascot to perform at their games. Landau’s complaint against Haverford High School — over issues like publicity for and scheduling of boys’ and girls’ basketball
games — has upset even those who would otherwise support him. “I am like: ‘Buddy, you know what?
You just threw the wrong punch,’ “ said Bobbi Morgan, the women’s basketball coach at Haverford College,
who used to coach the girls’ team at Haverford High School. “I never worked anywhere where it was better.” School
officials declined to comment because the case was still open, although some elements have been resolved. “Quite
frankly, I shouldn’t have to do this,” Landau said. “But it’s there. What possible argument is there
that I’m wrong?” Landau estimated he had filed at least 30 complaints, most contending unfair treatment
of girls, with the Office for Civil Rights, the division of the federal Education Department that enforces the gender-equity law known as Title IX. His work has led
to a change in practices at the school and district level in suburban Philadelphia. Landau, who owns a lighting business,
started as a parent activist and never stopped. Now 63, he has two daughters who have been out of school about 20 years and
four grandchildren. Local administrators say Landau keeps them on their toes. “He has challenged schools
and challenged the leagues to reflect on their practices,” said Scott Eveslage, the principal of Welsh Valley Middle
School in the Lower Merion School District. Eveslage was once the athletic director at two high schools in leagues Landau
had singled out. Although Landau has not always won — the Office for Civil Rights found insufficient evidence
to pursue at least two of his allegations — his frequent filings have been effective. The civil rights office does not
reveal the names of complainants, but officials confirmed that they had investigated several school districts that Landau takes credit for bringing to their attention. Landau
is a rabid fan of Cheltenham High School girls’ basketball, and his commentary during games often turns heads. The coach,
Bob Schaefer, said, “He’s yelling things that you might be thinking, but he just belts it out.” When
it comes to speaking out about unfairness, Landau can be just as passionate. He boasts that athletic directors regularly hang
up on him, and relishes the time he made a cheerleading coach cry. Some wonder if this confrontational style works against
him. Filing a complaint without building relationships can lead to hard feelings, said Carol Tracy, the executive director
of the Women’s Law Project in Philadelphia. “Since the vast majority of schools are out of compliance with Title IX, realistically none
of us are going to sue every one of them,” she said. Landau’s activism began in 1989, when his daughter
started playing field hockey at Cheltenham. “Karen kept coming home saying she had a different coach every day,”
he recalled. Landau learned that many of the boys’ coaches had full-time jobs as teachers in the district, but
the girls’ coaches did not. “In my own limited way, I somehow realized this was not good,” he said. He
also found that the girls had few options. “It used to be that you either played field hockey or tennis,” his
daughter Karen Bleznak said. “And in the winter, you played basketball.” A neighbor who worked for the Office
for Civil Rights encouraged Landau to file a complaint. He did, and the school district eventually added girls’ soccer
and volleyball, and built softball fields. Rich Marburg, who was Cheltenham’s director of student services from 1985
to 2004, said that high turnover also affected boys’ teams, and that the school district probably would have improved
its girls’ programs without prodding. “We just did some things that we were going to do anyway,”
Marburg said. Soon, parents at other schools enlisted his help, and Landau continued to spot unfair treatment. Girls
typically played basketball in the afternoons, and the boys in the evenings. Cheerleaders performed only at boys’ games.
Boys played their title games at arenas like the Palestra at the University of Pennsylvania, and girls were relegated to school gyms. His complainted have helped eliminate those inequities. Landau’s interests
have never been limited to girls’ sports. Early in his advocacy, he sued his daughters’ school district in federal
court, contending that it did not provide adequate help to Karen, who has a learning disability. Although he lost the case,
he said the district later expanded its offerings to students with learning disabilities. In the 1990s, Landau also successfully
pressured the district to increase its hiring of minority teachers. Landau said he was happy to bear the brunt of criticism
to protect parents who do not want their complaints to reflect poorly on their children. “A lot of people would
complain about him, but if there was a problem, of any kind — sports, or if it grew into other things — they called
him,” his wife, Jane Landau, said. Landau has never been paid for his advocacy, but it worked in his favor in
1996, when he faced federal charges of defrauding a commercial loan company as the owner of a janitorial supply business.
Landau repaid the $120,000 he owed the loan company, and later pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. Although Landau
was facing prison, the judge, citing his local involvement, sentenced him to time in a halfway house and under house arrest,
according to news reports. “I made a business mistake, I got snagged, and that was that,” Landau said. “I
have no excuse. It makes me human. More human than most.” This year, Landau filed a federal disability law complaint
against Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pa. A student with disabilities, he said, told him the college could not accommodate
his limitations. A report by the Office for Civil Rights found that many of Landau’s allegations had merit. In September,
Moravian reached an agreement with the civil rights office to set up a timetable to make its facilities accessible. Landau,
who has filed similar complaints against other colleges, said he could envision a day when he no longer investigated high
school sports. “We’ve about fixed everything in the Philadelphia suburbs,” he said. “If I see
something, I’ll complain. But at this point, most people have acquiesced to doing the right thing.”
Insurers Unlikely to Alter Policies in the Debate
Over Mammograms Stuart Isett for The New York Times, November 19, 2009 And that was even before new
guidelines this week recommended that women wait longer to begin getting mammograms and have fewer of them. The business of providing mammograms has been in steady decline in recent
years as many clinics have opted out of the screening business because of low insurance reimbursements. Medicare typically pays about $94 for a mammogram, and private insurers may pay an additional 20 percent or more. But the most
advanced imaging equipment costs several hundred thousand dollars, and there is concern over malpractice lawsuits if radiologists
read a mammogram but miss a cancer diagnosis. As a result, the number of sites accredited to conduct mammography screening in the United States has dropped
more than 12 percent since 2000, from 9,933 to 8,713, according to the American College of Radiology. And for many of the hospitals and free-standing radiology clinics that do perform mammograms, the service has become a loss leader, a way to attract patients
who might then receive other services. Health insurers, including the federal Medicare program, have said this week
they were unlikely to change coverage of mammograms in the immediate wake of the new guidelines, issued on Monday by the United
States Preventive Services Task Force. The new guidelines recommend that women in their 40s no longer have annual mammograms
and that women ages 50 to 74 have them only every other year instead of annually. “Our policies remain unchanged,”
Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of Health and Human Services, said in a statement Wednesday. Insurers like WellPoint, Aetna, Cigna and UnitedHealth Group, echoed that position, saying they based their coverage decisions on a broad array of research and guidelines from various
groups, many of which, like the American Cancer Society, continue to recommend more frequent screening. Insurers also say they are likely to cover any screening recommended by a
doctor in consultation with a patient, especially if there is a family history of the disease or a genetic predisposition.
“As one of the nation’s leaders in providing mammography screenings, we believe that focusing on prevention and
early detection is critical in improving women’s health and saving lives,” Kaiser Permanente, the popular health
plan based in California, said in a statement. “We do not currently plan on making any changes to our coverage or treatment
practices.” Such statements could provide reassurance to patients at clinics like the Breast Diagnostic Center in Auburn, Wash., for example. Women started calling the center on Tuesday, saying that they were worried their insurance
might no longer pay for the screening, Linda James, its administrator, said in a phone interview Wednesday. “It’s
awful,” Ms. James said, “Patients are confused.” Many women and doctors have said they might not
follow the new recommendations. But even under the former guidelines, many women have apparently not had the screening, often
because they lack insurance. Although women in the United States had about 40 million mammograms in 2007, according
to one estimate, experts say that represents only about 70 percent of the women who should get the test. “There
is still a significant portion of the population who does not get screening,” said Dr. Jacqueline W. Miller, a breast
imaging expert at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. Many of these women do not have insurance, and some analysts say the health care legislation being currently
debated in Washington could lead to an increase in mammography if some women who are uninsured obtain coverage and have the
tests. Meanwhile, the makers of breast imaging equipment are not likely to see a reduction in demand for their services
in the near future. That is because so many radiology centers and hospitals that provide mammograms have already allocated
money to switch to the latest digital imaging machines, replacing older machines that use film, said Isaac Ro, an analyst
with the health care investment bank Leerink Swann. The rationale for digital scanning is that the images are clearer,
faster to produce and easier to store and transfer electronically. But the federal panel that issued the new screening recommendations
said there was not enough evidence to conclude that digital screening was superior. Mr. Ro estimated that there were
about 12,800 mammography systems in the United States, about 7,500 of them digital. Hologic Inc. and General Electric are two of the major makers of digital systems, which can cost $250,000 or more, compared with about $40,000 for a system
that uses film, Mr. Ro said. The new guidelines may “create headline noise for Hologic but will not likely have
significant impact on Hologic’s business,” Jayson Bedford, an analyst at Raymond James & Associates, wrote
in a note sent to investors on Tuesday. Although Hologic stock fell a bit Tuesday morning on the news of the new screening
recommendations, the stock has recovered, closing at $15.37 on Wednesday, up 25 cents a share. G.E. closed at $16.09, up 7
cents a share. But, if American women do have fewer mammograms, freestanding clinics that specialize in breast imaging
could be vulnerable because they offer fewer services than hospitals, said Antonio García, the research manager for
medical imaging at Frost & Sullivan, a consulting and research firm. The Breast Diagnostic Center in Auburn, Wash.,
said staff members do not know how the new guidelines might eventually affect them. The Auburn office and another Breast
Diagnostic Center in nearby Federal Way, Wash., perform about 15,000 mammograms annually. Health insurers typically reimburse
the center $180 for a mammogram, Ms. James, the administrator, said, while the cost for someone without insurance would be
about $240, she said. The centers recently invested more than $1.2 million in two digital mammography machines, she
said. Ms. James, the clinics’ administrator, said she was not as worried about the breast imaging business as
about women who may have even fewer places to go for mammograms. Two members of the centers’ staff developed breast
cancer in their 40s, which is why employees there are concerned about the recommendation that women wait until age 50 to start
mammography, she said. Ms. James added that mammography is an inexpensive test that saves lives. “They could save
more money more easily elsewhere in the health care system.”
Guidelines Push Back Age for Cervical Cancer
Tests Published: November 20, 2009 New York Times New
guidelines for cervical cancer screening say women should delay their first Pap test until age 21, and be screened less often than recommended
in the past. Arriving
on the heels of hotly disputed guidelines calling for less use of mammography, the new recommendations might seem like part of a larger plan to slash cancer screening for women. But the timing was coincidental, said Dr. Cheryl B. Iglesia, the chairwoman of a panel in the obstetricians’
group that developed the Pap smear guidelines. The group updates its advice regularly based on new medical information, and Dr. Iglesia said the latest recommendations
had been in the works for several years, “long before the Obama health plan came into existence.” She called
the timing crazy, uncanny and “an unfortunate perfect storm,” adding, “There’s no political agenda
with regard to these recommendations.” Dr. Iglesia said the argument for changing Pap screening was more compelling
than that for cutting back on mammography — which the obstetricians’ group has staunchly opposed — because
there is more potential for harm from the overuse of Pap tests. The reason is that young women are especially prone to develop
abnormalities in the cervix that appear to be precancerous, but that will go away if left alone. But when Pap tests find the
growths, doctors often remove them, with procedures that can injure the cervix and lead to problems later when a woman becomes
pregnant, including premature birth and an increased risk of needing a Caesarean. Still, the new recommendations for
Pap tests are likely to feed a political debate in Washington over health care overhaul proposals. The mammogram advice led
some Republicans to predict that such recommendations would lead to rationing. Senator Tom Coburn, a Republican from Oklahoma who is also a physician, said in an interview that he would continue to offer Pap smears to sexually
active young women. Democratic proposals to involve the government more deeply in the nation’s health care system, he
said, would lead the new mammography, Pap smear and other guidelines to be adopted without regard to patient differences,
hurting many people. “These are going to be set in stone,” Mr. Coburn said. Senator Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Democrat and longtime advocate for cancer screening, said in an interview: “And this Pap smear guideline
is yet another cut back in screening? That is curious.” Mr. Specter, who was treated for Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2005 and 2008, said Congress was committed to increasing cancer screenings, not limiting them. Representative Rosa
DeLauro, Democrat of Connecticut, said that the new guidelines would have no effect on federal policy and that “Republicans
are using these new recommendations as a distraction.” “Making such arguments, especially at this critical
point in the debate, merely clouds the very simple issue that our health reform bill would increase access to care for millions
of women across the country,” she said. There are 11,270 new cases of cervical cancer and 4,070 deaths per year
in the United States. One to 2 cases occur per 1,000,000 girls ages 15 to 19 — a low incidence that convinces many doctors
that it is safe to wait until 21 to screen. The doctors’ group also felt it was safe to test women less often
because cervical cancer grows slowly, so there is time to catch precancerous growths. Cervical cancer is caused by a sexually
transmitted virus, human papillomavirus, or HPV, that is practically ubiquitous. Only some people who are exposed to it develop cancer; in most, the immune system
fights off the virus. If cancer does develop, it can take 10 to 20 years after exposure to the virus. The new guidelines
say women 30 and older who have three consecutive Pap tests that were normal, and who have no history of seriously abnormal
findings, can stretch the interval between screenings to three years. In addition, women who have a total hysterectomy (which removes the uterus and cervix) for a noncancerous condition, and who had no severe abnormalities on previous Pap tests,
can quit having the tests entirely. The guidelines also say that women can stop having Pap tests between 65 and 70
if they have three or more negative tests in a row and no abnormal test results in the last 10 years. The changes do
not apply to women with certain health problems that could make them more prone to aggressive cervical cancer, including H.I.V. infection or having an organ transplant or other condition that would lead to a suppressed immune system. It is by
no means clear that doctors or patients will follow the new guidelines. Medical groups, including the American Cancer Society, have been suggesting for years that women with repeated normal Pap tests could begin to have the test less frequently, but
many have gone on to have them year after year anyway. Debbie Saslow, director of breast and gynecologic cancer for
the American Cancer Society, said professional groups were particularly concerned because many teenagers and young women were
being tested and then needlessly subjected to invasive procedures. In addition, Dr. Saslow said, doctors in this country
have been performing 15 million Pap tests a year to look for cervical cancer in women who have no cervix, because they have
had hysterectomies. Dr. Carol L. Brown, a gynecologic oncologist and surgeon at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, said the new guidelines should probably not be applied to all women, because there are some girls who begin having sex at
12 or 13 and may be prone to develop cervical cancer at an early age. “I’m concerned that whenever you
send a message out to the public to do less, the most vulnerable people at highest risk might take the message and not get
screened at all,” Dr. Brown said. Dr. Kevin M. Holcomb, an associate professor of clinical obstetrics and gynecology
at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell hospital, said that when he heard the advice to delay Pap testing until 21, “My emotional response is ‘Wow, that
seems dangerous,’ and yet I know the chances of an adolescent getting cervical cancer are really low.” As
with the new mammogram recommendations, women may not readily give up a yearly cancer test. “For people who’ve
been having the testing regularly every year, it’s a big emotional change to test less frequently and there’s
this fear of ‘Oh my gosh, I might be missing something,’ ” said Ivy Guetta, 49, of Westport, Conn.,
who plans to continue with annual Pap tests. Ms. Guetta has three daughters, ages 17, 14 and 8, and at the moment, she would
not encourage them to wait until they turn 21. Jen Jemison, 24, a legal assistant from Babylon, N.Y., said she thought
she began getting Pap smears when she was about 18, but said that if she had been aware that the procedure for treating precancerous
lesions could lead to premature births, she would have waited until she turned 21. On the other hand, Ms. Jemison said
that now that she is over 21, “I would still go every year” for the Pap test. “One of my cousins
had cervical cancer, so that’s in my head too,” she said. “I’d rather get it checked out regularly
than have to worry about that.”
In Reversal, Panel Urges Mammograms at 50, Not 40 Just seven years ago, the same group, the United States Preventive Services Task Force, with different members, recommended that women have mammograms every one to two years starting at age 40. It found too little
evidence to take a stand on breast self-examinations. The task force is an independent panel of experts in prevention
and primary care appointed by the federal Department of Health and Human Services. Its new guidelines, which are different from those of some professional and advocacy organizations, are published
online in The Annals of Internal Medicine They are likely to touch off yet another round of controversy over the benefits of screening for breast cancer. Dr.
Diana Petitti, vice chairwoman of the task force and a professor of biomedical informatics at Arizona State University, said the guidelines were based on new data and analyses and were aimed at reducing the potential harm from overscreening.
While many women do not think a screening test can be harmful, medical experts say the risks are real. A test can trigger
unnecessary further tests, like biopsies, that can create extreme anxiety. And mammograms can find cancers that grow so slowly that they never would be noticed in a woman’s lifetime, resulting
in unnecessary treatment. Over all, the report says, the modest benefit of mammograms — reducing the breast cancer
death rate by 15 percent — must be weighed against the harms. And those harms loom larger for women in their 40s, who
are 60 percent more likely to experience them than women 50 and older but are less likely to have breast cancer, skewing the
risk-benefit equation. The task force concluded that one cancer death is prevented for every 1,904 women age 40 to 49 who are screened for 10 years, compared with one death for every 1,339
women age 50 to 74, and one death for every 377 women age 60 to 69. The guidelines are not meant for women at increased
risk for breast cancer because they have a gene mutation that makes the cancer more likely or because they had extensive chest
radiation. The task force said there was not enough information to know whether those women would be helped by more frequent
mammograms or by having the test in their 40s. Other experts said women with close relatives with breast cancer were also
at high risk. Dr. Petitti said she knew the new guidelines would be a shock for many women, but, she said, “we
have to say what we see based on the science and the data.” The National Cancer Institute said Monday that it was re-evaluating its guidelines in light of the task force’s report. But the American Cancer Society and the American College of Radiology both said they were staying with their guidelines advising annual mammograms starting
at age 40. The cancer society, in a statement by Dr. Otis W. Brawley, its chief medical officer, agreed that mammography had risks as well as benefits but, he said, the
society’s experts had looked at “virtually all” the task force and additional data and concluded that the
benefits of annual mammograms starting at age 40 outweighed the risks. Other advocacy groups, like the National Breast
Cancer Coalition, Breast Cancer Action, and the National Women’s Health Network, welcomed the new guidelines. “This
is our opportunity to look beyond emotions,” said Fran Visco, president of the National Breast Cancer Coalition. The task force “is an independent body of experts that took an objective look at the data,” Ms. Visco said.
“These are the people we should be listening to when it comes to public health messages.” Some women, though,
were not pleased. “I know so many people who had breast cancer and survived, and what saved their lives was early detection,”
Janet Doughty, 44, of San Clemente, Calif., said in a telephone interview. She said she had had an annual mammograms since
her late 30s and would not stop now. The guidelines are not expected to have an immediate effect on insurance coverage
but should make health plans less likely to aggressively prompt women in their 40s to have mammograms and older women to have
the test annually. Congress requires Medicare to pay for annual mammograms. Medicare can change its rules to pay for
less frequent tests if federal officials direct it to. Private insurers are required by law in every state except Utah
to pay for mammograms for women in their 40s. But the new guidelines are expected to alter the grading system for health
plans, which are used as a marketing tool. Grades are issued by the National Committee for Quality Assurance, a private nonprofit organization, and one measure is the percentage of patients getting mammograms every one to two years
starting at age 40. That will change, said Margaret E. O’Kane, the group’s president, who said it would
start grading plans on the number of women over 50 getting mammograms every two years. The message for most women, said
Dr. Karla Kerlikowske, a professor in the department of medicine, epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco, is to forgo routine mammograms if they are in their 40s. Starting at age 50, Dr. Kerlikowske said, “the message
is to get 10 mammograms in a lifetime, one every two years.” That way they get the most benefit and the least harm from
the test. If women are healthy, she added, they might consider having mammograms every two years until age 74. Nearly
two-thirds of all women in their 40s had mammograms within the last two years, as did 72 percent of women age 50 to 65, according
to an editorial by Dr. Kerlikowske that accompanies the report. In order to formulate its guidelines, the task force
used new data from mammography studies in England and Sweden and also commissioned six groups to make statistical models to
analyze the aggregate data. The models were the only way to answer questions like how much extra benefit do women get if they
are screened every year, said Donald A. Berry, a statistician at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center and head of one of the modeling groups. “We said, essentially with one voice, very
little,” Dr. Berry said. “So little as to make the harms of additional screening come screaming to the top.”
The harms are nearly cut in half when women have mammograms every other year instead of every year. But the benefits
are almost unchanged. The last time the task force issued guidelines for mammograms, in 2002, the reportwas announced by Tommy G. Thompson, the secretary of health and human services. When the group recommended mammograms for women in their 40s, some charged the
report was politically motivated. But Dr. Alfred Berg of the University of Washington, who was the task force chairman at the time, said “there was absolutely zero political influence on what the task
force did.” It was still a tough call to make, Dr. Berg said, adding that “we pointed out that the benefit
will be quite small.” In fact, he added, even though mammograms are of greater benefit to older women, they still prevent
only a small fraction of breast cancer deaths. Different women will weigh the harms and benefits differently, Dr. Berg
noted, but added that even for women 50 and older, “it would be perfectly rational for a woman to decide she didn’t
want to do it.” Researchers worry the new report will be interpreted as a political effort by the Obama administration
to save money on health care costs. Of course, Dr. Berry noted, if the new guidelines are followed, billions of dollars
will be saved. “But the money was buying something of net negative value,” he said. “This decision
is a no-brainer. The economy benefits, but women are the major beneficiaries.” Roni Caryn Rabin
contributed reporting.
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