Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.
Dr. Fauci opened the Thursday afternoon, September 26, session of Council by welcoming visitors and the following ad hoc members to the 124th meeting: Dr. Michael Brenner, Professor of Medicine, Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Harvard Medical School (Boston); Dr. Richard Guerrant, Thomas H. Hunter Professor of International Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Virginia (Charlottesville); and Dr. Charles Wira, Professor, Department of Physiology, Dartmouth Medical School (Lebanon, New Hampshire).
Dr. Fauci expressed the Institute's gratitude to the following members of Council whose terms end with this meeting: Drs. Gail Cassell; Philip Hopewell; Edmund Tramont and Mr. Walter Searcy. Consideration of Minutes of Previous Meeting:
The minutes of the May 20-21, 1996 meeting were considered and approved as written. Dates of Future Council Meetings:
January 23-24, May 19-21 and September 8-10, 1997. Staff and Organizational Changes:
Dr. Fauci announced the departure of Mr. Michael Goldrich, who left the Institute to assume the position of Deputy Director of the NIH Clinical Center. Mr. Goldrich made many valuable contributions to the Institute and will be missed.
A number of personnel changes have resulted in the Institute with the departure of Mr. Goldrich. Dr. John McGowan, Director of the Division of Extramural Activities (DEA) and Executive Secretary of the NIAID Advisory Council, has been reassigned to the Office of the Director, NIAID to fill the position of Acting Deputy Director for the Institute.
Dr. Lawrence Deyton, Chief of the HIV Research Branch within the Division of AIDS (DAIDS) has been temporarily reassigned to the Division of Extramural Activities (DEA) where he has become Acting DEA Director as well as Executive Secretary of the NIAID Advisory Council. Dr. Carla Pettinelli, Deputy Branch Chief, DAIDS' HIV Research Branch has assumed the role of Acting Branch Chief.
Two new appointments have occurred within the Division of Intramural Research (DIR). Dr. Karyl Barron has been appointed its Deputy Director, and Dr. Andrea Barnes has been appointed Chief of the Animal Care Branch.
Within the Division of Allergy, Immunology and Transplantation, Dr. Daniel Rotrosen has become Chief of the Asthma, Allergy, and Inflammation Branch. In the Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Pamela McInnes has been appointed Chief of the Respiratory Diseases Branch. Budget Update:
On September 30, President Clinton signed an Omnibus Funding Bill that keeps NIH running for the entire year. Under this bill, NIH received $12.75 billion, 6.9 percent more than the FY 1996 enacted level.
NIAID's budget rose a generous $1.26 billion giving us 7.6 percent more money than Congress appropriated in FY 1996. This compares very favorably to the research institutes as a whole, whose budgets went up an average of 6.4 percent.
The NIH AIDS budget also got big money increases. Its $1.5 billion appropriation is 6.8 percent above last fiscal year's enacted amount. As one would expect, NIAID was again the beneficiary of a large portion of the NIH AIDS budget. The Institute received $646.4 million for AIDS research, an increase of 8.8 percent over FY 1996.
At $11.3 billion, NIH non-AIDS research rose 6.9 percent over the enacted amount for last year. The research institutes as a whole averaged a 6.4 percent boost for non-AIDS research with NIAID's share rising 6.3 percent.
NIAID plans to use most of the increased funds to raise the payline for investigator-initiated research project grants (RPG). The Institute plans to fund unsolicited non-AIDS RPGs to the 20.0 percentile and unsolicited AIDS RPGs to the 24.0 percentile. These paylines are two percentile points higher than last years'. Legislative Update:
Dr. Fauci provided an overview of various provisions of S. 1897, the NIH Revitalization Act of 1996. He also gave Council highlights of his participation at the September 12th annual Congressional Black Caucus Health Forum where he served as a member of the panel "Living with AIDS: Trials, Challenges and Triumphs."
On May 29, Representative Robert Dornan of California met with Dr. Fauci and Dr. H. Clifford Lane, NIAID Clinical Director, to discuss AIDS therapies and tour the Institute's 11th floor clinic in the NIH Clinical Center.
Copies of the Legislative Update, which describes hearings and bills of interest to the Institute, were distributed. Other
NIH Leadership Forum:
On September 3-4, Dr. Fauci co-chaired a session on priority setting and showcased Institute planning at a recent NIH Leadership Conference. Institute and Center (IC) directors delved into policy, planning, and information technology issues. The IC directors looked at the institutes' diverse planning systems, which range from formal five-year plans to those involving little institute direction.
Dr. Fauci highlighted NIAID's rather formal planning process, featuring two meetings at which Institute management review future initiatives as well as grant and budget policies. As an example of the latter, the recent shift away from RFAs and toward program announcements marks a major policy decision that came out of those meetings.
Emerging Diseases Research Agenda:
On May 23, the Blue Ribbon Panel on Emerging Diseases affirmed research needed to safeguard humanity from the threat of emerging diseases. It concurred with a research agenda developed by NIAID recommending to expand basic knowledge of infectious agents and immune responses to them; strengthen tools for prevention, treatment, and control; and support training and infrastructure needed to respond to emerging pathogens. The Panel included two Council members: Drs. Gail Cassell and Warren Johnson.
NIAID recently funded new research projects on the emergence of hepatitis C and hantavirus in the U.S. and awarded funding to three Emerging Viruses Research Groups to study hantavirus and other emerging viral infections.
Immunology Task Force:
On October 8, 1996, NIAID will convene a Task Force on Immunology, the first since 1990. The group will evaluate promising research directions in immunology and the already significant impact basic immunology research has had on preventing, detecting, and treating disease.
In addition to major areas such as allergy, asthma, autoimmunity, and transplantation, the Task Force will explore the nature and development of the immune system, immunoregulation, advances in biotechnology for diagnosis and immunotherapy, and vaccine development.
NIAID has invited highly respected experts in many fields of immunological research and human health care to participate on the Task Force. A report of the meeting will be forthcoming.
African Malaria Initiative:
Responding to the growing disease burden of malaria and rise in drug-resistant parasites, organizations from around the world are stepping up efforts to strengthen malaria research.
Dr. Varmus is involved in a global venture that brings together African, French, British, and U.S. agencies. Several NIH components are participating: the Office of the Director, Fogarty International Center, and NIAID intramural and extramural scientists.
As a first step, a major international conference will take place in Dakar, Senegal, in January. In addition to identifying research needs in endemic areas, two major goals are to train more African researchers and foster their collaborating with investigators in other countries.
Merit Award Discussion:
Dr. Lawrence Deyton, Acting Director, DEA, provided Council with an overview of the MERIT award program. After examining data presented on NIAID's MERIT program, Council agreed to giving MERIT grantees the possibility of gaining a second award after the first one ends. Dr. Gail Cassell, member of the NIAID Advisory Council made the motion for this recommendation after Council agreed that the opportunity for a sequential MERIT was best decided by individual grant review.
The question came up because many MERIT awards - often for 10 years - are expiring for grantees funded in the first cohort of the 10-year old program. MERIT awards provide some outstanding investigators with a five-year grant that may be followed by a three- to five-year Council-approved extension. back to top |