Carl Cincinnato

When few people in our immediate family or group of friends have migraine to the same degree of severity as ourselves it is easy to feel isolated at times. It’s also hard to keep up with what is happening in different areas to change the status quo – to increase research, improve treatments and advocate for the support and rights of those with migraine disease.

The good news is that momentum continues to build for migraine. The media is covering migraine and headache disease, new treatments, patient stories. The upcoming Migraine World Summit will provide updates on those topics from world experts. But, what is being done on the policy front?

HOH group picture
Load images to view. Top L to R: Migraine World Summit Team Members take on the Hill. Dr. Shapiro briefing advocates at Headache & Migraine Policy Forum lunch. Middle: Wendy Bohmfalk at NC Congressional office. Bottom L to R: Advocates in front of the Capital. Retweet from HOH by Representative Adams.

Several team members from the Migraine World Summit recently took part in a gathering of advocates in Washington, DC.

We first participated in an event with CHAMP, the Coalition of Headache And Migraine Patients. The event included a series of updates and subcommittee meetings about the status of the migraine movement, the patient journey, National Migraine and Headache Awareness Month (in June), and RetreatMigraine (in April).

The main event was Headache on the Hill (HOH). This year, 173 advocates from 45 states visited over 200 offices on Capitol Hill.

We were pleased to have 5 team members from the Migraine World Summit represent their home states and advocate for people with migraine and headache disease.

Our “Ask” this year was to support a bill to address the need for more providers in the fields of pain medicine, headache medicine, addiction medicine, and addiction psychiatry. The bill is called the Opioid Workforce Act (H.R.3414/S.2892) which is intended to help address the huge disparity in the care needed for Americans and the providers available to treat them.

Headache on the Hill is an incredible annual event organized by the Alliance of Headache Disorders Advocacy, who meticulously plan and facilitate this important advocacy effort.

The founder of the Alliance for Headache Disorders is Dr. Robert Shapiro who had a fantastic interview at the Migraine World Summit in 2018 about the impact of stigma and the urgent need for advocacy in headache. You can login to watch the full interview or preview the interview here.

If you previously purchased the 2018 Summit, you are all set to login to watch the full interview.

Back to top