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 From Alexis LaScala, Johnson & Johnson Corporate External Relations Team

Recently, I attended a unique event to celebrate and recognize educators from four U.S. cities for their successful implementation of the Johnson & Johnson Gateway to a Healthy Community ™ – Healthier Kids (GHC-HK) program, an innovative effort to help combat childhood obesity. GHC-HK is a core curriculum-based program that emphasizes increasing physical activity in schools in Atlanta, Houston, Newark and Philadelphia. A key component is a proven program called Activity Works (AW) that delivers 12-minute video/audio exercise bursts in classrooms that helps to maximize academic performance and meet state mandates for physical education. Through this program, in just 85 days during the 2011-2012 school year, nearly 28,000 elementary school students in grades K-3 in over 1,100 classrooms in four cities burned more than 61 million calories!

While Johnson & Johnson and the GHC-HK program deserve kudos for leadership and innovation in helping to combat childhood obesity, the stars of the event were the students and the school districts and stakeholders who brought the program to the schools in those four cities.

A highlight of the event I attended at Newark’s Park Elementary School was a live demonstration of more than 100 students who jumped, pushed, pulled, reached and galloped through an AW adventure called Wonders of the World. 

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Momchil Jelev
Policy Assistant, WW Environment, Health & Safety, WW Government Affairs & Policy

When we speak about healthcare in Europe, the word ‘sustainability’ is used often. From the outset of the economic crisis in 2008, policymakers, ministries of health, customers and payers all have focused on sustainable financial systems and sustainable healthcare systems – often as separate paths to achieve results. As budgets are shrinking, innovative ways to maintain current social and healthcare systems for the long term must be employed. As I attended CleanMed Europe recently, I was pleased to see that a broader alternative discussion is emerging- one that marries financial and systemic sustainability in healthcare.

Pictured from left to right: Momchil Jelev, Phil Dahlin, Keith Sutter, Gary Cohen, Erol Odabasi, Al Iannuzzi

This year, CleanMed returned to Europe for the first time since 2005. As a sponsor, Johnson & Johnson and SterilMed were pleased to attend the conference hosted in Malmo, Sweden and talk with our customers and colleagues about the ways in which we are helping to make hospitals and healthcare more sustainable. We also shared a recently-published whitepaper based on recent findings, which revealed that our customers across the globe have begun and will continue to demand more sustainable healthcare products.

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By Husseini K. Manji, MD, Global Head, Neuroscience Therapeutic Area, Janssen Research & Development, LLC

Today is World Mental Health Day, a day that according to the World Health Organization “raises public awareness about mental health issues…promotes open discussion of mental disorders, and investments in prevention, promotion and treatment services.” To me, it also is a reminder of the work that still must be done. At Janssen, we believe in the power of recovery from mental illness, and we know that recovery is possible only with appropriate treatment. To spark the process of recovery there has to be public recognition that brain disorders are treatable and there must be no shame and no stigma attached.

That is why Janssen Research & Development partnered with Museum Dr. Guislain, a Belgian mental health museum earlier this year, to sponsor and present the inaugural Dr. Guislain “Breaking the Chains of Stigma” Award. The Award honors the legacy of Dr. Joseph Guislain (1797-1860), the first Belgian psychiatrist to provide scientifically-based treatment for patients with mental illness, and a staunch patient advocate. The award is an important component of the Janssen and Johnson & Johnson Healthy Minds initiative, which aims to encourage collaboration among biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and public-sector partners to accelerate the discovery of new therapeutic solutions for diseases and disorders of the brain, as well as support the mental health community and various advocacy organizations and projects.

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By Bob Hackett, Science Journalism Intern at Janssen R&D

I read in the theme of this year’s Dr. Paul Janssen Award—The Power of Science to Change the World—an unwritten corollary; how apparently small things can disproportionately impact the large.  Science brims with underdogs.  And science progresses through the dust clouds they leave in their wake.

Left to right: Dr. Gary Ruvkun and Dr. Victor Ambros

2012 winners holding their respective Dr. Paul Janssen Awards

So it was with this year’s winners.  Dr. Victor Ambros and Dr. Gary Ruvkun co-discovered micro-RNAs, a class of miniature molecules, essential to life (human included), by looking inside unwitting, minuscule roundworms known as Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans for short), a nematode.  Micro-RNAs are, as their name suggests, tiny.  Typically only twenty-one nucleotides long.  (Coincidentally, as many letters as are in “Caenorhabditis elegans”.)  Yet scientists believe micro-RNAs to be central regulators of gene expression and development—essential to our every breath, movement, sight, sleep, digestion, cognition.  Without them life is jeopardized and abnormalities abound.  So small yet so vital.

My love for science stems from such underdogs.  The micro-molecules, the mini-worms, the first few researchers who devote themselves to poking around inside…

If you wonder why a company like Janssen would be interested in such arcane science, it is because Dr.

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By Husseini K. Manji, MD, Global Head, Neuroscience Therapeutic Area, Janssen Research & Development, LLC

September is World Alzheimer’s Month, and today is World Alzheimer’s Day – the culmination of a coordinated international effort to raise awareness and challenge the stigma around dementia.

The 2012 World Alzheimer Report released today focuses on the global impact of stigma associated with dementia, including a review of current knowledge in the area and results of a global survey on stigma.  Not surprisingly, the stigma and associated social exclusion experienced by people with Alzheimer’s and their caregivers is one of the disease’s most devastating effects.  According to the report, 40 percent of people with dementia say they have been avoided or treated differently because of their diagnosis and are not included in everyday life.   Statistics like this are all the more meaningful because most of us have been personally affected by Alzheimer’s in our own families, or know someone who has.

More than 36 million people worldwide are living with dementia and by 2030, this number will have nearly doubled to 66 million. These numbers are staggering and the need is greater than ever for new solutions for patients and their loved ones.  But there is also reason to hope. 

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By Denise Sitarik, RN, Vice President, Johnson & Johnson Patient Assistance Foundation, Inc.

In her book Illness as Metaphor Susan Sontag wrote that “everyone who is born holds dual citizenship, in the kingdom of the well and in the kingdom of the sick…[and] sooner or later each of us is obliged, at least for a spell, to identify ourselves as citizens of that other place.”

It’s true that we all want to remain permanent citizens in the world of good health, but at some point we all face illness, whether our own or that of a loved one. As a registered nurse, I know first-hand the challenges patients experience when they are diagnosed with a chronic illness:  physical pain and discomfort, fatigue, fear, and anxiety.  I have seen the physical and emotional toll chronic illness takes on patients, caregivers and their families and the tremendous energy required to deal with the day-to-day difficulties of illness. There is also the challenge of navigating the complexity of the US healthcare system. The sudden dependence on family and friends and the worry that comes from the financial impact of illness can be overwhelming.

At the Johnson & Johnson Patient Assistance Foundation (JJPAF), we try to help with the burden of chronic illness by assisting patients who meet eligibility requirements to get medicines they need.

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By Gaston Picchio, Hepatitis Disease Area Leader, Janssen

As a scientist involved in hepatitis C research for 20 years, it is very gratifying to see the recent explosion of advances against this disease. Often called the silent epidemic, hepatitis C is the most prevalent form of viral hepatitis in the United States.  Globally, it is estimated that three percent of the world’s population–up to 170 million people–is currently infected with hepatitis C.  In the United States, an estimated 3.2 million people are infected, but most don’t know it, and every year approximately 12,000 Americans die from hepatitis C-related liver disease.

While most days at Janssen we strive to make a difference for patients through our research to create simpler, safer and more effective treatments for hepatitis C, on August 2, at the second annual White House World Hepatitis Day Event, I had the opportunity to share my thoughts about how Janssen can help make a difference in another way: through public and industry partnerships.

Janssen is one of several companies that were invited to the White House to be part of the discussion about the current state of viral hepatitis in the United States. The event was sponsored by The Office of National AIDS Policy in collaboration with the U.S.

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By Al Iannuzzi Sr. Director Product Stewardship, WW Environment, Health & Safety

As I discussed in an earlier post, “greening” the healthcare system is a hot topic these days.  Healthcare facilities have a distinct and pivotal opportunity to improve their sustainability. To function and provide 24-hour services in the United States, hospitals require significant amounts of energy and water, and generate a lot of waste.   If they could reduce that waste, increase energy efficiency, purchase greener products and conserve water, hospitals could reduce their environmental impact significantly, lower overall costs and help improve the health of surrounding communities.

Because this is such a focus for hospitals – and a passion of mine — I was honored to participate in a recent forum hosted by the White House Council on Environmental Quality on “Greening America’s Hospitals.” Helping manufacturers and the hospitals that buy our products find pathways to sustainability is critical for the families and patients who rely on our industry, the healthcare industry and our planet.   Based on our track record of environmentally-friendly business practices, which goes back more than 20 years , Johnson & Johnson has been honored by organizations such as Interbrand, Newsweek and Practice Greenhealth as a leader in sustainability.  

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From:  Linda Davis and Megan Farina, Communications, Janssen Biotech and Casey Abrams, musician

Imagine being told, in your first year of college, you have a chronic disease and there is no cure.  Now, add painful and embarrassing symptoms that keep you from participating in activities that you once loved and potentially changing how you live your life .

Welcome to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

IBD  includes the unpredictable digestive diseases ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease and impacts 1.4 million Americans, most diagnosed between 15 and 30 years of age.

Due to the nature of both UC and Crohn’s, some patients are reluctant to seek a doctor’s advice and rely on finding information on-line and connecting with others through social media.  So, how do we raise awareness of these often misunderstood diseases and inspire people who suffer to seek support?

In 2011, Season 10 American Idol finalist Casey Abrams attracted headlines when he was hospitalized during the competition due to his UC.  Despite these health challenges, Casey was one of 11 finalists to earn a coveted spot on the 2011 Idol Live summer concert tour.

Partnering with Casey and the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA), we launched the IBD Icons disease awareness campaign – centered around a national search to identify “IBD Icons” who submitted their personal stories of achievement, like Casey’s. 

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