Is There 'Life After Death' on NBC-TV's 'ER'?

NEW YORK-- If you're Kellie Martin, whose ``ER'' character Lucy Knight is the latest to depart the NBC hit series, the answer is an unequivocal ``Yes.''

Now that she's free from playing a doctor on television, in real life she is literally working to save lives -- the lives of women around the world.

Today, Kellie will address United Nations members at a meeting convened by American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association and the Global Alliance for Women's Health (GAWH) as part of the UN's Commission on the Status of Women 2000. The meeting is designed to call attention to an issue that, while long overdue, is just beginning to receive recognition as a major women's health problem.

As national spokesperson for the American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association, Inc. (AARDA), Kellie will join Dr. Nassiah Mboi who heads the World Health Organization's Department of Women's Health and Dr. Vivian Pinn who heads the National Institutes of Health's Office of Research on Women's Health, to discuss the growing problem of autoimmunity in women.

They, along with other medical experts including autoimmunity pioneer Dr. Noel Rose, AARDA founder Virginia Ladd and GAWH founder Dr. Elaine Wolfson, will urge the international audience to push in their countries for improved basic and epidemiological research into the 80 known autoimmune diseases and how they affect women.

Kellie's education about autoimmune disease unfortunately came too late. In 1998, her 19-year old younger sister, Heather, died from complications due to a case of systemic lupus erythematosus (lupus) that was repeatedly misdiagnosed.

Heather Martin's story is not unique. Autoimmune disease affects approximately 50 million Americans, some 75 percent of whom are women -- mostly in their childbearing years, a time when they are traditionally most healthy.

Kellie is working to see that other young women do not share Heather's experience. She is on a mission to make sure that the medical community gains greater understanding of autoimmunity and the sometimes vague, often seemingly unrelated symptoms associated with it. She also is empowering patients to be their own best advocate.

``If a doctor dismisses symptoms or says they are stress-related, patients need to find another doctor, period,'' said Kellie. ``Often, the biggest obstacle patients with autoimmune disease face is just getting a diagnosis.'' Dr. Pinn's office recently pushed autoimmune disease to the top of the national research agenda when it published its report, ``Agenda for Research on Women's Health in the 21st Century.''

According to Dr. Pinn, a recent $30 million Congressional appropriation to NIH has resulted in the greatest number of autoimmune research projects in history. These projects, currently underway at Dr. Pinn's office and other NIH institutes, are beginning to close the gaps in autoimmunity knowledge.

Following the UN meeting, Kellie will address New York City residents and their families who are coping with autoimmune disease at a free public forum being held at New York University's School of Medicine from 5:00 - 7:00 p.m. at Farkas Auditorium, Alumni Hall, 550 First Avenue at 31st Street.

Autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, autoimmune hepatitis, scleroderma and insulin-dependent diabetes are caused by immunity against one's own body. It is the process whereby the immune system mistakenly recognizes the body's own proteins as foreign invaders and produces antibodies that attack healthy cells and tissues, causing various diseases.

The Global Alliance for Women's Health is committed to advancing women's health in all stages of life and at all policy levels through health promotion, education, advocacy and program implementation. AARDA is the nation's only organization dedicated to bringing a national focus to autoimmunity as a category of disease and a major women's health issue, and promoting a collaborative research effort in order to find better treatments and a cure for all autoimmune diseases.

For more information, please visit AARDA's web site at www.aarda.org or call 888-856-9433.

SOURCE: American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association, Inc.



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