WASHINGTON, D.C.—Senator Susan Collins recently met with Allison Janney and Mary McCormack, both of whom starred on the NBC drama “The West Wing.” Janney portrayed the President’s Press Secretary, “C.J. Craig” and McCormack played “Kate Harper,” Deputy National Security Adviser. The actresses visited Senator Collins to thank her, on behalf of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, for leading the effort in the U.S. Senate to increase funding for diabetes research. McCormack also talked about her husband, who lives with type 1 diabetes.
Senator Collins is the founder and co-chair of the Senate Diabetes Caucus. She is a leading Senate champion for the 16 million Americans living with diabetes. Since Senator Collins founded the caucus, funding for diabetes research at the National Institutes for Health has more than tripled from $319 million in 1997 to more than a billion dollars last year. She has also introduced a number of important bills that were signed into law, which resulted in increased funding for diabetes research and to promote better health care for people with diabetes. In 2004, President Bush signed into law Senator Collins’ Pancreatic Islet Cell Transplantation Act. Senator Collins is a recipient of both the JDRF’s Congressional Leadership Award and the American Diabetes Association’s National Public Leadership Award.