Program areas at PCRM
Research and Regulatory Affairs We promote human-specific, nonanimal approaches for use in research, testing, and education, through scientific support, policy change, and education and outreach. In fiscal year (FY) 2024, our scientists continued our work to overcome barriers to the uptake of nonanimal approaches. We provided input to relevant agencies through responses to requests for information, with notices in the Federal Register, and at agency meetings. To overcome bias in favor of animal use in research, our scientists continued leading a collaboration to provide evidence of the bias and implement strategies to overcome it. To promote human-based approaches, our scientists continued training established and early-career scientists via direct agency training, continuing education courses, a training program focused on human-based approaches for use in regulatory testing, supporting webinars for a scientific society, and our biennial summer program that covers human-based approaches in research and testing, reaching approximately 5,000 scientists live, and many more through recordings. To meet a need for training in non-English speaking countries, we launched a learning management system with translations in Spanish. We published on bias favoring the use of animals in research, xenotransplantation, in vitro methods, and computational modeling. To improve physician training, we continued our work to replace animals in residency training programs. Largely as a result of our work, 99% of surveyed advanced trauma life support programs in the U.S. and Canada use nonanimal, human-based training methods. In addition, 97% of emergency medicine programs in the U.S. and Canada no longer use animals, and nearly 80% of surgery programs have replaced animals.
CommunicationsWorking with physicians, health experts, and celebrities who serve as spokespeople, we inform, persuade, and inspire readers through strategic media relations, social media, digital communications, print publications, and advertisements. Our work was featured in traditional news outlets including The New York Times, Newsweek, The Washington Post, BBC, The Los Angeles Times, NPR, The Mirror, New York Daily News, Forbes, United Press International, Medical Xpress, Healio, Womans World, U.S. News and World Report, ABC News, CBS News, Fox News, NBC News, Business Insider India, and many more. Our doctor-authored op-eds have been published in major newspapers including South Florida Sun Sentinel, Albany Times Union, Colorado Newsline, and Lansing State Journal. Print and online news coverage generated 3,699 news articles for a total engagement (number of times a link was shared, commented on, or liked on social media) of 275,880 and an average unique visitors per month of 4.4 million. Our social media content created conversations daily among more than 1.8 million followers on 16 social media accounts. In FY 2024, 20 million accounts were reached across Meta platforms and Twitter. YouTube's following grew to 468.4K, up 45K subscribers from the previous year, and our videos were viewed 8 million times. The Exam Room Podcast was downloaded more than 3.5 million times on podcast platforms in FY 2024 and nearly 20 million from its launch in 2018. Our website received 4,712,530 total page views in FY 2024. We completed more than 900 separately tracked print and display materials, promotional merchandise, and electronic graphics and e-publications. Good Medicine, the Physicians Committees 24-page magazine, keeps members informed and involved. Four issues of Good Medicine were published in FY 2024. Total print distribution was 325,841.
Nutrition Education Nutrition experts grew a variety of educational programs to promote plant-based diets for health. To educate clinicians, the Nutrition Guide for Clinicians, a diagnostic and treatment mobile application, reached 6,470 new users, with nearly 67,000 total users to date. NutritionCME.org brought in 3,637 health care professionals through novel and practical educational content, and we provided lectures at 18 medical, nursing, and dental schools, reaching 893 students. The clinician referral network brought in 101 new providers, for a total of 550 worldwide, and we launched a new dietitian referral program with more than 70 plant-based registered dietitians. The Lets Beat Breast Cancer campaign added 45 events in communities across the country, gaining media attention in 52 media articles with a reach of 151 million. The bilingual 21-Day Vegan Kickstart mobile application reached 22,800 people with menus, recipes, education, and cooking videos to support individuals transitioning to a plant-based diet. Our new multilingual One Healthy World program reached more than 400,000 people across the world in English, French, and Spanish languages. In India we held 24 in-person and virtual lunch-and-learn events reaching 3,500 people. In China, we reached more than 35,560 people, including 2,400 health care professionals, through a total of 218 lectures across 70 cities. The Food for Life nutrition and cooking program, via our global network of nearly 440 instructors and institutions, reached nearly 18,300 students through nearly 3,000 individual classes.