Palatucci Advocate Success Stories
"The Palatucci Advocacy Leadership Forum gives neurologists the tools and a sense of shared purpose to focus analytic power and passionate commitment to achieve effective legislative change."
—John Booss, MD, FAAN
| Name: | John Booss, MD, FAAN |
| Position: | Professor Emeritus of Neurology and Laboratory Medicine at Yale University | Advocacy Issue: | Improving Care for Veterans (.pdf action plan) |
| Advocate in the News | |
| House VA Epilepsy Legislation Introduced | June 2007 |
| Dr. Booss Testifies to US Senate Committee | May 2007 |
| Text of Dr. Booss' Senate Testimony | May 2007 |
| Heroes at Home Act Introduced | April 2007 |
Advocate's History
An instrumental AAN advocacy leader and a former National Program Director for Neurology for the Department of Veteran's Affairs, Booss testified in May 2007 before the Senate to seek support for AAN-sponsored legislation to improve rehabilitation, training, and assisted-living services for veterans with traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic epilepsy. Booss also helped to secure the passage of permanent Congressional authorization in 2006 for the Department of Veterans Affairs' Centers of Excellence for Parkinson's Disease and for Multiple Sclerosis, and led similar efforts for Epilepsy in 2007. On the state level, Booss helped to persuade the Connecticut State Legislature to adopt a home and community-based waiver for persons with HIV, as well as a pilot program for home and community care for people age 19 to 64 with MS and other illnesses.
In recognition of his outstanding efforts, Booss was selected as a 2007 Palatucci Advocate of the Year.