Local Politician Joins Actress in Fight Against Cancer: Rep. Betsy Ritter launches CT chapter of We Work For Health

By Stephen Chupaska, Staff Writer:

Connecticut's role in fighting diseases is going to take a combination of star power and sausage-factory-style lawmaking. That’s one of the reasons Rep. Betsy Ritter (D-Waterford) joined with Academy Award winner Marcia Gay Harden and others to launch the Connecticut chapter of the nationwide organization We Work For Health in Hartford earlier this month.

Ritter, whose district also includes parts of Montville, said We Work for Health brings together a broad coalition made up of pharmaceutical companies, doctors, academics, and labor unions to support bioscience research.

“We want to make the state a leader in medical innovation,” she said.

Harden, who won acclaim on Broadway as part of the original cast of Angels In America, which dealt with AIDS, was inspired to become a cancer patient advocate while doing research for a role.

Read the entire article at http://zip06.theday.com/blogs/stonington_times/archive/2009/05/04/local-politician-joins-actress-in-fight-against-cancer-rep-betsy-ritter-launches-ct-chapter-of-we-work-for-health.aspx