SENATE MEMORIAL 29

53rd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2017

INTRODUCED BY

Mary Kay Papen

A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE SECRETARY OF HEALTH TO ESTABLISH A NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS DATABASE AT THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH TO PROVIDE FOR THE COLLECTION AND SHARING OF AGGREGATE DATA ON NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS WITH RESEARCHERS STATEWIDE AND WORLDWIDE.

     WHEREAS, neurological disorders are conditions that occur in the brain, spine and the nerves that connect them; and

     WHEREAS, neurological disorders include more than six hundred diseases, including brain tumors, epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis and stroke as well as less familiar conditions such as oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy; and

     WHEREAS, scientists worldwide, including scientists in New Mexico, are doing important research on neurological disorders; and

     WHEREAS, neurological databases store only data at the aggregate level, protecting personal health information from unauthorized disclosure; and

     WHEREAS, when neurological disorder researchers are able to study the types and incidence of neurological disorders through interconnected databases, they are able to make breakthroughs in their knowledge regarding the identification and treatment of these neurological disorders;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the secretary of health be requested to provide for the establishment of a neurological disorders database at the department of health; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the neurological disorders database at the department of health receive data relating to neurological disorders occurring in New Mexico; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the department of health be requested to share and receive aggregate data on neurological disorders with neurological disorder researchers statewide and worldwide; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the governor and to the secretary of health.

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