CENTER FOR DISEASE DYNAMICS, ECONOMICS & POLICY ANNOUNCES INDEPENDENCE FOR RELEASE: December 1, 2010 CONTACT:
Andrea Titus, Communications Manager, CDDEP, 202-328-5152, titus@cddep.org
WASHINGTON – The Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy (CDDEP), formerly a research unit of Resources for the Future, has announced its independent founding and launched a new website (www.cddep.org). The transition establishes the Center as a 501(c)(3) organization, enabling CDDEP to grow in its research efforts while maintaining its focus on developing innovative policy solutions to reduce the impact of infectious and non-‐communicable diseases worldwide. “We are delighted that this exemplary research center, skillfully led by Ramanan Laxminarayan, has matured into an organization with the intellectual rigor and financial base to stand on its own,” said RFF President Phil Sharp. “RFF takes pride in its role in incubating and developing CDDEP and we hope to remain closely affiliated in the future.” As a Senior Fellow at RFF, Laxminarayan pioneered the integration of epidemiological models and economic analysis, particularly in addressing the public health problems of antibiotic resistance and malaria. “This new phase of our life as an organization brings exciting challenges, and we consider this development a tribute to the quality of CDDEP’s research and its policy impact,” said Laxminarayan. “We look forward to a close relationship with RFF as our team expands its work in disease modeling and analysis.” Nobel prize-‐winning economist Kenneth Arrow, who has been closely associated with CDDEP’s work on antibiotic resistance and malaria, said of the organization’s founding, "CDDEP is unique in its combination of knowledge and talents for all the fields—economics, biology, and public health—needed to deal with the rapidly developing and increasingly dangerous emergence of drug resistance. CDDEP and its collaborators have already proven that they can identify the key issues and devise innovative solutions to the world’s major challenges in all facets of disease control." To accompany its launch, CDDEP has unveiled a new website with more than 200 publications and dozens of research tools, including dynamic graphics and presentations: