March 2014
NIDDK Director encourages students to pursue the sciences
On February 12, Dr. Griffin P. Rodgers, Director of the
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK),
shared his journey through the sciences with a group of students from Buck Lodge Middle School in Adelphi, MD. His talk and
lively quiz show highlighted how science affects the students' daily lives and how learning about
science can improve their lives.
As part of the Nifty Fifty science speaker program sponsored
by the upcoming USA Science & Engineering Festival, Rodgers talked about how his
parents, teachers, and three of his close friends who had sickle cell disease inspired his
passion for science and sealed his desire to become a doctor and to focus on
hematology. Following his brief remarks,
Rodgers hosted the students in an interactive quiz show, focusing
on some areas of science supported by NIDDK, including diabetes, obesity,
physical activity, kidney disease, and the human microbiome. To
close the event, the students asked Rodgers questions ranging from how long it
took for him to become a doctor to if
there’s a
cure for diabetes.
The 3rd USA Science & Engineering Festival is the largest
science festival in the U.S. It will be held April 26–27 in Washington, D.C.
The organization sponsors contests and school programs
like the Nifty Fifty to spark the interest of youth in science, technology,
engineering, and math (STEM). This was
Buck Lodge Middle School’s first time participating in the festival. More
information about the 3rd USA Science & Engineering Festival and its expo
is available at http://bit.ly/1hoKwhk.
March is National Kidney Month
NKDEP offers ways to be a kidney health champion
 More than 20 million U.S. adults may have chronic kidney
disease, according to the NIDDK’s National Kidney Disease Education Program
(NKDEP). And most don’t know they have it. Kidney disease may lead to major
health problems, including kidney failure and heart disease.
Check
out NKDEP’s National Kidney Month page at http://1.usa.gov/1e45Wvu for ideas
and tools for promoting kidney health. These include social media updates, links to more information about kidney health, and a place to subscribe to NKDEP’s newsletter. The page also
features messages and resources you can use to let your loved ones and others
in your area know about risk factors for kidney disease, the importance of
getting tested, and ways to keep your kidneys healthy. You can also read the
page in Spanish at http://1.usa.gov/1c0V0yO.
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Watch for the next issue of the WIN Notes Update for . . .
. . . ideas for promoting health among minority
groups.
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