OAKLAND, Calif., March 9 (AScribe Newswire) -- The Public Health Institute today announced the appointment of attorney Brenda Drake as the director of the Public Health Trust, a program that manages funds generated through lawsuits dealing with a wide variety of public health issues.
Drake's first challenge involves a $21 million settlement with Warner-Lambert (now part of Pfizer) for the alleged illegal off-label promotion of its anti-epileptic drug, Neurontin.
A committee of attorneys general representing 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the federal government selected the Public Health Trust (www.publichealthtrust.org) to administer the settlement funds by developing a program that provides consumers and health care professionals with information on prescription drugs, including the way in which drugs are marketed.
"The Public Health Trust has helped create and support dozens of innovative projects to improve the public's health," says Drake. "I plan to expand this work nationally, starting with the Neurontin settlement."
The Public Health Trust is a unique service for managing litigation settlements, providing creative and appropriate solutions to problems raised by lawsuits. Over the past 10 years, the Public Health Trust has received more than $10 million in settlement funds for programs addressing issues such as lead abatement in school drinking fountains, lead exposure from ceramic tableware, and arsenic exposure from wood playground equipment.
The Public Health Trust also provided seed funding for long-term projects such as Medicine for People in Need (www.medpin.org), which has distributed $171 million of free drugs to clinics and hospitals and become a leading advocacy and training program on access to pharmaceuticals.
Drake--who has worked as a lawyer, foundation executive, and community activist--brings broad experience to the program. A graduate of Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law, Drake practiced corporate law for 16 years before becoming a foundation executive with the Richard & Rhoda Goldman Fund. In her 11 years at the Goldman Fund, she developed and implemented grantmaking programs in population, reproductive health and rights, services for the elderly, low-income community organizing activities, and social justice for incarcerated men, women, and youth.
Drake has also served as a director or trustee of organizations focused on education, international health, finance, civil rights and the arts. Most recently, she served as interim executive director for the new Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco.
"I was drawn to the Public Health Trust because of its unique combination of program administration and legal expertise," says Drake. "When the Public Health Trust manages a litigation settlement, everyone benefits. Communities benefit because resources are put into programs and education, rather than legal battles. Plaintiffs benefit because the programs that we implement will remedy the cause of the complaint. And defendants benefit because quicker settlements mean that fewer resources are put into litigation."
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CONTACT: Cinderella Lee, Public Health Institute Communications, 510-285-5533
ABOUT PHI: The Public Health Institute is an independent,
nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting health,
well-being and quality of life for all people through
research and evaluation, training and technical assistance,
and by building community partnerships. For more
information, please visit www.phi.org or contact Cinderella
Lee.
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