Honorary Chair
Laura Bush is dedicated to advancing education in America and supports the President's work to ensure that no child is left behind in school or in life. She created a national initiative, Ready To Read, Ready To Learn, to inform parents and policy makers about early childhood education and the importance of reading aloud to and with children from their earliest days. She helped to develop a series of magazines called "Healthy Start, Grow Smart" to provide parents with information about their infant's cognitive development and health.
As one of her first priorities, Mrs. Bush convened the White House Summit on Early Childhood Cognitive Development. Prominent scholars and educators shared research on how infants learn and how parents and caregivers can prepare children for lifelong learning. To share this information with a broader audience, Mrs. Bush hosts regional summits across the country.
As honorary ambassador for the Decade of Literacy of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Laura Bush leads America's efforts to bring education to people worldwide, especially to women and girls. She is a strong advocate for equal rights for all women.
In honor of her mother, a breast cancer survivor, Mrs. Bush supports education campaigns for breast cancer and heart disease. She partners with the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute to share the Heart Truth, that heart disease is the leading cause of death among women in America. Mrs. Bush educates women about their risks and stresses the importance of healthy eating, exercise and preventive screenings. Mrs. Bush is the first first lady to serve as honorary chair of the NOFAS benefit.
Honorary Hosts
 Sen. Tom Daschle and Linda Hall Daschle have hosted the annual NOFAS Leadership Awards Benefit since 1993. They are among the leading advocates of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) prevention and services and have long fought to protect the health of our nation's children.
Sen. Daschle is the democratic leader of the Senate. Throughout his career, he has been a tireless fighter for working families in South Dakota and across the country. In addition to fighting FASD, he is a champion of veterans, Native Americans and family farmers and ranchers. He has pressed Congress to cut taxes for working families, to pay down the national debt, to shore up Social Security and Medicare, and to invest in health care, education, the environment, crime fighting and agriculture. Mr. Daschle is a founding member of the NOFAS Advisory Board.
Linda Daschle is a senior public policy advisor at Baker, Donelson, Bearman & Caldwell in Washington, D.C. She joined the firm after a distinguished career in the aviation industry highlighted by her service as deputy administrator and acting administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration. Mrs. Daschle has received numerous awards for her professional and charitable efforts, and has served as a member of the NOFAS board of directors.
The Honorable Andrew H. Card Jr. and the Rev. Kathleene Card join NOFAS in hosting our NOFAS Leadership Awards Benefit for the first year.
Andrew Card is the White House chief of staff for President George W. Bush. During the administration of former President George H.W. Bush, Mr. Card was the 11th secretary of transportation and deputy chief of staff to the president. Under former President Reagan, Mr. Card served as deputy assistant to the president and director of intergovernmental affairs. Additionally, Mr. Card was vice president of government relations for General Motors and president and chief executive officer of the American Automobile Manufacturers Association (AAMA). Mr. Card served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1975 to 1983.
Kathleene Card has been associate pastor at Trinity United Methodist Church in McLean, Virginia, since 1999. Prior to joining Trinity United, Mrs. Card served as a member of the Massachusetts Port Authority board of directors and as director of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's Office of External Affairs. Mrs. Card has logged in many volunteer hours with the Boy Scouts of America, the Massachusetts Governor's Council of Libraries and Information and the Promise of America Youth Campaign.
Benefit Chairs
 Dr. Neal Baer is currently executive producer of the series Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. He was nominated for six Emmys as executive producer of ER. Other awards include the Jerry L. Pettis Memorial Scholarship from the American Medical Association for promoting a better understanding of medicine in the media and a mass media fellowship from the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. Baer's primary medical interests are in adolescent health. He serves on the boards of numerous organizations related to health care, including the Venice Family Clinic, the Grace Center of Pasadena, California, and NOFAS.
Terry Lierman is the chair of the NOFAS board of directors, as well as a founder of the organization. He has a long and successful record of creating and working with new ventures in the health area. Lierman launched his career at the National Institutes of Health, went on to serve as the staff director of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health & Human Services and Education and rose to become chief of staff of the full Appropriations Committee. He has been involved in venture capital, business development and management in various health areas since 1981, including starting a nationwide drug review company, a specialty health company and a government relations firm specializing in securing funds for health initiatives. His far-reaching volunteer work includes serving as founding chair of the Children's Research Institute and Kids in Distressed Situations (KIDS) and as founder of the National Coalition for Cancer Research.
Tony Podesta was a founding member of the NOFAS board and was influential in the organization's growth and success during the 1990s. Currently, he is the founder and co-chair of PodestaMattoon, a national public affairs firm. Mr. Podesta is a legislative strategist, campaign consultant, lecturer and commentator. He also serves as co-chair of the Community and Friends Board at the Kennedy Center and as chairman of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Photography Committee.
NOFAS Leadership Awards
The NOFAS Leadership Award is presented annually to distinguished members of Congress, community leaders and other outstanding individuals in recognition of their commitment to the prevention of alcohol-related birth defects.
2004 Honorees
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (D-Alaska) has quickly become a leading advocate for those living with FASD around her native state of Alaska. She has toured many of the tribal areas throughout the state and was able to see firsthand the ways in which alcohol has ravaged the lives of many Alaskan Natives, particularly the use of alcohol while pregnant. She has shown a keen interest and energy in learning about the dangers of prenatal alcohol exposure and its overall effect on women's and children's health. Furthermore the senator has been supportive of federal efforts to further study the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure and to move the field forward through the proposal of language in the FY2004 Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Conference report to recommission a study on FASD by the Institute of Medicine. Murkowski consistently has been responsive to the needs of those who advocate for FASD prevention and treatment. In September 2003, she sponsored a senate resolution to designate September 9 of each year as "National Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Awareness Day" in order to increase awareness of this debilitating disorder. We are grateful for her ongoing devotion to the fight against FASD.
Congressman Jim Ramstad (R-Minn.) has been a champion for substance abuse prevention and treatment since his election to Congress in 1990. He fully supports the mental health parity legislation named after the late Sen. Paul Wellstone and leads his peers in recognition of alcoholism as a disease. He was named "legislator of the year" by the National Association of Alcoholism and Drug Addiction Counselors in 1998 and by the National Mental Health Association in 1999 for his efforts to expand options for chemically dependent individuals.
In February 2004, Rep. Ramstad cosponsored the first NOFAS house briefing on FASD. Such exposure has been invaluable in increasing awareness of FASD and in spreading knowledge of the dangers of drinking while pregnant. Following the success of the house briefing, Ramstad founded the congressional caucus on FASD in March 2004 with Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. Ramstad's work with the newly-founded caucus and support among his fellow congressmen will keep FASD prevention and treatment in the public consciousness both in Congress and in his native state of Minnesota.
Congressman Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) has become one of the leading Democratic voices in Congress on access to health care issues since his election to the House of Representatives in 1988. As a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, he has championed Medicaid and Medicare throughout his tenure. A staunch advocate for American Indian tribes and tribal interests, Mr. Pallone demonstrated his interest in FASD through his activities on the Native American caucus. His notable public and private efforts to improve the health of American Indians led him to found the congressional caucus on FASD with Rep. Jim Ramstad in March 2004. The extraordinarily high incidence of FASD among tribal populations is of great concern to Pallone. He has been extremely helpful in providing a platform in Congress for FASD awareness and continues to work to raise public consciousness about the detrimental effects of alcohol use during pregnancy.
NOFAS Excellence Awards
The NOFAS Excellence Award recognizes outstanding efforts in support of the national fight against FASD.
Dr. Edward Riley received his Ph.D. in 1974 from Tulane University and since 1988 has been a professor in the department of psychology and the director of the center for behavioral teratology at San Diego State University in California. His focus is on the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure on brain and behavior. He is the author of over 180 scientific papers and reviews and has edited the Handbook of Behavioral Teratology. In 2000, he was appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Health as chair of the National Task Force on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Fetal Alcohol Effects. He also serves as the co-chair of the Steering Committee for the SAMHSA-sponsored FAS Center for Excellence. He has served as the president of the Research Society on Alcohol, the Fetal Alcohol Study Group, and the Behavioral Teratology Society. He currently is an associate editor of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and is on the editorial boards of Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research and the Psychological Record. On February 9, 2004, Dr. Riley served on a panel of experts during the NOFAS senate congressional briefing.
The Harry and Jeanette Weinburg Foundation focuses on aiding people who, by reason of poverty, disability, failing health or advanced age, are unable to help themselves adequately. The Weinberg Foundation is honored today for their support of NOFAS efforts in developing youth programming for implementation with tribal populations. Native populations are impacted extraordinarily by alcoholism and concurrent diseases. Among some native peoples, the incidence of FASD can exceed 25 percent. Since the founding of NOFAS in 1990, the troubling statistics about FASD in Native American populations have been a focus. The generous gift of the Weinberg Foundation has allowed NOFAS to begin work with elders of the Cherokee Nation, the Choctaw Nation of Mississippi, the Navajo Nation and the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to develop youth programming designed to prevent alcohol use during pregnancy. We honor the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation for their philanthropic vision and support.
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