2005 Education Award in Neuroscience

Frankie Trull

Frankie Trull majored in history at Boston University during the 1970s, with the intention of eventually becoming a lawyer.  After graduation, she stayed in Boston and worked for Tufts University, first at the School of Medicine and then at the Dental School. At the same time, she completed a master's program at Tufts in sociology. In 1976, the president of Tufts, Jean Mayer, initiated establishment of a veterinary school for New England and Frankie was involved in gathering the necessary support and resources for a first entering class in 1979. 

In 1979, with the encouragement of many lab animal veterinarians, Frankie started the Research Animal Alliance (RAA) which became the Association for Biomedical Research (ABR) two years later. In 1984, the ABR merged with the National Society for Medical Research (NSMR) to become the National Association for Biomedical Research (NABR). 

NABR was founded to represent member institutions in national policy making that affects the use of animals in research, education, and product-safety testing. It soon became clear, however, that something needed to be done to address public misconceptions about animal research, since popular sentiment was giving rise to a number of legislative actions that could hamper research. 

In 1981, Frankie founded the Foundation for Biomedical Research (FBR) to promote public understanding of animal research and challenge the untruths put forth by animal rights activists. She managed to convince leading scientists that they needed to get involved and reach out to the public. Frankie started the activities that FBR is continuing to this day - holding media events, lining up scientists to appear on national programs, and most importantly, distributing educational publications about animal research to the public. 

Frankie is well known as a strong advocate for policies that do not hamper the important work using animals in a humane and sensitive manner to advance biomedical research. Through this advocacy, she has educated national policy makers as well as the general public in these issues of tremendous importance to the neuroscience community.