Mary Tyler Moore has had a stunning career as an actress. From her portrayal of Laura Petrie on the Dick Van Dyke Show to her most beloved character, Mary Richards, on The Mary Tyler Moore Show , audiences have embraced her work and loved the person breathing life into these endearing characters. For her groundbreaking work in television, film and on Broadway, Moore has received seven Emmy Awards, five People's Choice Awards, three Golden Globes, an Academy Award nomination and a Tony Award.

Though millions recognize Mary Tyler Moore for her acting accomplishments, countless others have benefited directly from her tireless work in the realm of juvenile diabetes. Through her courage, honesty and willingness to share her personal story publicly, Moore, who has had type 1 diabetes for more than 35 years, has provided real leadership to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. JDRF is the world's most dynamic, volunteer-driven organization committed to finding a cure for diabetes and its complications through the support of research. Referred to by many as "Mary's Foundation," it is the leading charitable funder and advocate of type 1 diabetes research.

As International Chairman for more than 20 years,Mary Tyler Moore has put JDRF on the map, and through her frequent visits to Capitol Hill, her Congressional testimony and highly visible public service campaigns, she has helped increase the Foundation's commitment to research from a cumulative $25 million in 1984 to a total of more than $900 million in direct funding in 2005. JDRF funds the best and most relevant research to help achieve a cure for this devastating disease through the restoration of normal blood sugar levels, avoidance and reversal of complications, and the prevention of diabetes and its recurrence.

Mary Tyler Moore and her husband, S. Robert Levine,M.D., have contributed generously to JDRF and most recently to its Stem Cell Research Fund in support of embryonic stem cell research. As cochairs and initiators of this program, they believe such research holds dramatic potential for a cure.


Mary Tyler Moore and children of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
ABOVE RIGHT: Peter VanEtten and Holland Edmonds, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation

Christopher Reeve

"Once we choose hope, everything is possible."
Christopher Reeve, 1952-2004

Actor, director and activist are just some of the words used to describe Christopher Reeve. From his first appearance at the Williamstown Theatre Festival at age 15, Reeve established a reputation as on of the country's leading actors. However, since he was paralyzed in an equestrian competition in 1995, Reeve has not only put a human face on spinal cord injury but has motivated neuroscientists around the world to conquer the most complex diseases of the brain and central nervous system.

After graduating from Cornell University in 1974, Reeve pursued his dream of acting, studying at Juilliard under the legendary John Houseman. He made his Broadway debut in 1976 and then went on to distinguish himself in a variety of stage, screen and television roles. He made his directorial debut with In the Gloaming on HBO in 1997. The film was met with rave reviews and was nominated for five Emmys. Reeve's autobiography, Still Me was published in 1998 and spent 11 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. His audio recording of Still Me earned Reeve a Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album in 1999. In his first major role since becoming paralyzed, Reeve starred in an updated version of the classic Hitchcock thriller Rear Window, for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries. He also served as executive producer of the film.

In early 2001 Reeve began combining his directing efforts with his activism when he directed four commercials featuring Ray Romano, Randy Newman, Toni Morrison and himself for Johnson & Johnson that focused on helping parents talk to their kids. The same year he filmed a spot for the American Red Cross that celebrated volunteerism.

In 1999, Reeve became the chairman of the board of the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation (CRPF), a national, non-profit organization that supports research to develop effective treatments and a cure for paralysis caused by spinal cord injury and other central nervous system disorders. CRPF also allocates a portion of its resources to grants that improve the quality of life for people with disabilities.

As vice chairman of the national Organization on Disability, Reeve worked on quality-of-life issues for the disabled. In partnership with Senator Jim Jeffords of Vermont, he helped pass the 1999 Work Incentives Improvement Act, which allows people with disabilities to return to work and still receive disability benefits. Reeve was also on the board of directors of World TEAM Sports, a group that organizes and sponsors challenging sporting events for athletes with disabilities.

In addition to his work on behalf of CRPF, Reeve's advocacy efforts included lobbying on behalf of the National Institutes of Health for research funding; testifying before the Senate Appropriations committees in favor of federally funded stem cell research; and working tirelessly to obtain increased funding from both the public and private sectors to cure Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, MS, ALS and stroke, as well as to repair the damaged spinal cord.

His second book, Nothing is Impossible: Reflections on a New Life, was published in 2002. Reeve won his second Grammy nomination for Best Spoken Word Album for the audio version of this book. At the same time, a documentary about his advocacy, Christopher Reeve: Courageous Steps, aired on ABC Television in the United States. The documentary was directed by Reeve's son, Matthew, and has been distributed around the world.

Earvin Johnson Jr. is universally known as "Magic Johnson" for his illustrious 13-year career in the National Basketball Association. But since his retirement from the Los Angeles Lakers in 1991, Magic Johnson has redefined himself as a businessman who focuses his efforts on revitalizing neglected communities and providing service to this country and numerous others.

Magic's dedication to supporting the underserved in the United States has taken him to inner-city neighborhoods as well as the White House where he served as co-chair for Vice President Al Gore's White House Community Empowerment Board. Magic continues his participation in business roundtables designed to encourage leaders and businesses to invest in neglected neighborhoods.

As a United Nations Messenger of Peace, Magic speaks to youth about drug violence and other social issues of extreme importance. As a Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) vice president and event chair for the annual Magic Johnson Sports Star Award Dinner & Auction, Magic has helped the MDA raise millions for dollars to support the association's projects of research, diagnosis, and community service programs.

Magic Johnson has also worked with the Make a Wish Foundation, the United Negro College Fund, the Starlight Foundation and the American Heart Association, and currently sits on the Board of Trustees for the American Cancer Society Foundation.

In 1991, Magic established the Magic Johnson Foundation as a single-disease organization that worked to raise funds for community-based organizations dealing with HIV/AIDS education and prevention programs. The foundation has since responded to the growing need to address all aspects of our youth's lives by expanding its mission.

MAGIC IS HONORED FOR HIS:

• Belief that "we may not know what the future holds, but we do know that it lies in the hands of our children. Thus, the decision is not whether we should invest in the future of our children, but how soon we can make the commitment."
• Dedication to supporting the underserved in the United States, which has taken him to inner-city neighborhoods as well as the White House
• Participation as a United Nations Messenger of Peace, when he speaks to youth about drug violence and health issues of extreme importance
• Service as a vice president and event chair for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, for whom Magic Johnson personally helped raise millions of dollars to support the association's research and community service programs
• Establishment of the Magic of Health Foundation to raise funds for community based organizations dealing with HIV/AIDS education and prevention programs, assisting countless thousands of underserved children in this country

Michael DeBakey, M.D.

In his long and distinguished medical career, Dr. DeBakey has been globally recognized as a pioneer of modern medicine. Dr. DeBakey's genius for invention and innovation in the field of cardiovascular medicine has helped save countless lives.

Many of his medical inventions, procedures and techniques are commonly used today and helped pave the way for new technologies and the successes of modern heart surgery. In addition, Dr. DeBakey is known as an international medical statesman, a scholar and humanitarian, bringing his gifts of innovation and compassion to many throughout the world.

His knack for invention showed itself early in his career. In the 1930s, while pursuing his medical degree at Tulane University, Dr. DeBakey invented the roller pump, which is now used in heart-lung machines. During World War II, Dr. DeBakey signed up for the military and was assigned to the U.S. Surgeon General's office. He helped develop the mobile army surgical hospitals, now popularly known as MASH units. He developed the specialized medical and surgical centers for military veterans, which became the Veterans Health Administration Medical Center System. After the war, he played a major role in establishing the National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. In the 1950s, Dr. DeBakey made grafts from Dacron and used them to repair aneurysms in all parts of the aorta. Such grafts are now part of standard cardiovascular treatment. He has pioneered many heart and blood vessel operations and performed more than 60,000 cardiovascular procedures.

As a teacher and scholar, Dr. DeBakey has taught thousands of U.S. and foreign surgeons, many of whom practice in top positions all across the globe. He helped build Baylor College of Medicine into a top-flight institution, serving for 10 years as its president (from 1969 to 1979) and 17 years as chancellor (from 1979 to 1996). High on Dr. DeBakey's personal list of achievements is a Houston high school he helped start nearly 30 years ago for students, mostly minorities, seeking health care careers. The school is now named for Dr. DeBakey.

Dr. DeBakey has established a remarkable career as an international medical statesman. He has served as a medical advisor to nearly every U.S. president for the past 50 years. Outside the United States, Dr. DeBakey is probably best known in Russia, which he has visited many time to perform operations, including one on President Boris Yeltsin, and to work on health programs.

Throughout his long and distinguished career, Dr. DeBakey has received many awards and much recognition for his medical, humanitarian and scholarly contributions. In 1969, President Lyndon Johnson presented Dr. DeBakey with the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction, and in 1987 he received the National Medal of Science from President Reagan.

A true humanitarian, Dr. DeBakey has worked to share his work with the worldwide medical community. Without question, Dr. DeBakey is globally recognized as a living legend.

DR. HAROLD FREEMAN has devoted his life in medicine to overcoming the impacts of poverty and race on health care.  Early in his career, confronting the fact that African American women with breast cancer are more likely to die of the cancer than are women of any other group, he took direct action:  He opened the nation's first free screening clinic for breast cancer, the Breast Examination Center of Harlem.  Since 1979, this center in New York has been a model for programs in medically underserved communities across the United States.

"The unequal burden of disease in our society is a challenge to science as well as a moral and ethical dilemma for our nation," Dr. Freeman said this summer when he was appointed the National Cancer Institute's associate director for reducing health disparities.  He also serves as president, chief executive officer, and director of surgery at North General Hospital in Harlem and as chairman of the President's Cancer Panel, a three-member board that monitors the National Cancer Program.  As president of the American Cancer Society in 1988 - 1989, he shaped the society's campaign to reduce cancer among the poor.  He has been a pioneer in urging medical professionals to talk with their patients about cancer prevention, stressing the importance of diet, regular exercise, and not smoking.

Racism is a major cause of poverty among African Americans and Native Americans, Dr. Freeman points out.  In turn, poverty is a driver of disparities in health care:  "It is clearly related to who survives, how long they survive, and the quality of their survival," he has said.

"Putting an end to the impact of race on health care has to begin with an awareness of what race is and what it is not," he says.  "Race is not a biological classification; it was invented.  I believe, however, that many people continue to think of it as a biological category.  Those who view race this way are making assumptions about people, valuing them differently and behaving differently toward them.  Doctors, like other people, are socialized to see people through the lens of race....  I do not believe that there is an intention to treat people differently; I do not believe that doctors say, 'This person is black, so I am not going to give her the best treatment.'  But research shows that ultimately this is what happens.  Correcting it starts with awareness by the medical community, at least as early as medical school.  We need to see individuals as individuals, instead of as parts of an ill-defined group about which we make assumptions."

Dr. Freeman has worked toward that goal with uncommon zeal, full devotion to his patients, and a sensitive, powerful appeal to the conscience of the medical community.

Dr. Freeman has shifted the paradigm for understanding disease in poor communities and among minority populations....  [His] humanitarian efforts have increased survival rates for thousands of people.  - National Institutes of Health

Doctors Without Borders/ Medecins Sans Frontieres

Each year, hundreds of medical volunteers from all over the world put their careers on hold and their lives in danger to save the lives of others. They combat tuberculosis in Siberia, for example, fight malaria in the Amazon, carry out war surgery in Sri Lanka, provide basic health care and clean water in Central Africa, and assist earthquake victims in Turkey.

The volunteers are united by their courage, their commitment to basic humanitarian principles, and their participation in the work of the world's largest independent medical relief agency, Doctors Without Borders/ Medecins Sans Frontieres.

Often the first humanitarian agency to arrive at the scene of an emergency - and the last to leave - Doctors Without Borders is renowned for its ability to provide specialized medical and logistical assistance in sudden disasters and under the toughest conditions.

Assisting Vulnerable People  Children and pregnant women - among the most vulnerable groups in any crisis - are the focal point of dozens of Doctors Without Borders relief programs around the world. Whether assisting street children eking out a precarious existence in large urban slums or indigenous peoples struggling to survive in remote rural communities, the organization's medical teams focus on those who have little or no access to their own country's health care system.

Speaking Out Against Abuse  Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres was founded in 1971 by a small group of French doctors. The founders believed that the world needed a new type of organization, one that was able both to respond quickly to public health emergencies and to speak out against gross violations of human rights while advocating on behalf of populations in danger.

Observing Neutrality  To ensure its independence, most of the organization's funding comes from donations from the general public as well as from corporations and foundations. Doctors Without Borders observes strict neutrality in the name of medical ethics and the universal right to medical assistance.

"We are by nature an organization that is unable to tolerate indifference. We hope that by arousing awareness and a desire to understand, we will also stir up indignation and stimulate action." Rony Brauman, M.D., cofounder, Doctors Without Borders USA.