Executive Summary

Neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs) affect approximately 2% of the American population. Unfortunately, the majority of these diseases do not possess treatments. Our aim was to increase the awareness of NDDs, and to address the use and acceptance of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in neurodegenerative disease research.

We assumed that the population viewing the print would have general knowledge of both NDDs and GMOs. This assumption allowed for the viewer base to include the entire population. While NDDs do not include the entire population, everyone would benefit from the print.

The simple layout of the print was chosen as it raises multiple questions very rapidly. The print contains two simple images with very few words. This layout was most appealing to all audiences. This seemed to be the best way to portray our message that NDDs are important diseases and should not be any less important than other diseases, including diabetes. The comparable of diabetes was chosen as it is a very popular disease, affecting approximately 9.3% of the American population, and is currently treated with GMOs.

Stakeholders affected by the print include: researchers, clinicians, NDD patients, patient families, the pharmaceutical industry, the Ministry of Health, the government and regulatory bodies. The “researchers”, “clinicians”, “NDD patients”, “patient families”, and the “pharmaceutical industry” will only be advantageously affected. Researchers will now have the tools they need to complete further advances in the area of NDD research and treatment. The clinicians will now have a treatment or increased knowledge to provide to NDD patients. NDD patients will possibly have a treatment for their disease, also beneficial to the NDD patient families. The pharmaceutical industry will see an increase in sales and revenue as a new treatment drug is presented. The government and regulatory bodies may experience slight negative affects. These bodies may have difficulty determining who is and who is not eligible for treatment, and therefore may experience negative feedback. It is apparent that the “negative” effects are minor in comparison to the “positive” effects.

Overall, we created a print poster that was both attractive and thought provoking.

1. 2014 National Diabetes Statistics Report. (2015, May 15). Retrieved October 15, 2016, from http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/data/statistics/2014statisticsreport.html
2. The Challenge of Neurodegenerative Diseases. (n.d.). Retrieved October 15, 2016, from http://neurodiscovery.harvard.edu/challenge