How can we speed up the FDA’s approval process without compromising safety? The new Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (Dr. Andrew C. von Eschenbach) and the President of the Institute of Medicine (Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg) discuss strategies—including putting into practice the advice of the National Institute of Medicine, strengthening the authority of the FDA, and collaborating with government institutions, academia, and the pharmaceutical and biotech industries to develop new drugs and other products that will best serve the public. The discussion is chaired by Dr. Joseph M. Feczko, Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President of Pfizer, Inc. more»

Los Angeles-based The Green Children Foundation is creating a music video on Grameen Microcredit, says a press release. For this music video, a group from the Foundation recently travelled to Dhaka. The group, which included singer Camilla Sunde and her writer Thomas Schofield, spent seven days shooting the video with their crew in the villages of Bhawal Mirzapur of Gazipur and Bhawal Rajabari and Sreepur of the same district. This was the Grameen Bank branch area just outside of Dhaka. Camilla performed as the lead singer in the video, which included dances by the children from the pre-school of Grameen Shikkha. more»