As part of the International Symposium on Malignant Mesothelioma, held last week in Washington, D.C., 13-year-old Lexi Miletto presented a keynote address to more than 200 top-level cancer researchers, scientists and physicians, as well as mesothelioma survivors, caregivers and their families. The Symposium is an annual event presented by the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation (Meso Foundation). Lexi’s grandfather, Joe Miletto, died from mesothelioma three years ago.

When her grandfather passed away, 9-year-old Lexi, who lives just outside Allentown, Pennsylvania, channeled her grief into a letter-writing campaign, hoping to raise awareness of mesothelioma. According to an article in The Morning Call, a publication that serves Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley, Lexi wrote medical research organizations, political leaders including President George Bush, and even television celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, hoping to spread the word about asbestos danger and mesothelioma.

This year, the Meso Foundation invited Lexi to give the keynote address Friday, June 27, at its International Symposium. The Morning Call quotes Chris Hahn, the foundation’s executive director, as saying, ”We wanted to show the full spectrum of the disease’s effect on families. How inspiring it is that this young gal going into eighth grade has this concern for a much bigger national problem.”

I’m a little behind with this, since the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation (MARF) announced it in January, but I think it’s important enough to share in case there are others, like me, who didn’t know.According to a release on MARF’s website, the Department of Defense (DoD) Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program was appropriated $50 million in the Defense Appropriations bill that the President signed in mid-November 2007. For the first time, mesothelioma will be included as a research priority within the DoD’s Medical Research Program, which was set to begin in February.In the press release, Chris Hahn, executive director of The Meso Foundation, says, “The Meso foundation has been working with fifteen senators, led by Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), advocating the federal government to respond to the mesothelioma crisis through a commitment of new federal research dollars.”As a candidate research area within the program, mesothelioma investigators are eligible to compete for funding through the program’s 2008 grant cycle.For more information, read the full release online, or contact the Meso Foundation directly at (805) 563-8400.