Lasker Trust's "Funding First"

[Phil Tompkins <philtomp@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I ran across the web pages of a project of the Mary Woodard Lasker
Charitable Trust to increase NIH funding.  See



FUNDING FIRST was started in early 1997 to achieve the following
objectives:

1. "Build the case for medical research, highlighting important
economic benefits, as a national treasure which may be jeopardized by
current funding practices and conduct a vigorous public campaign to
position medical research with key decision makers and influentials."

2. "Strengthen the advocacy effort by engaging the support of new,
high profile leaders from a diverse spectrum of constituencies,
thereby increasing the pool of leadership spokespersons, as well as
unifying the research advocacy groups behind common messages to the
public and policy makers."

3.  "Support a serious, formal examination of the merit of a new
national funding reform for medical research that expands funding
responsibilities to new stakeholders and considers long term fiscal
commitments that takes funding for research beyond the annual
appropriations process."

I'm curious what items 1 and 3 mean in particular.

The executive committee is headed by former Senator Mark O.
Hatfield, who preceded Senator John McCain as the Senate champion of
the Udall Bill.  Its executive committee, a who's who of American
medical leaders (Bruce M. Alberts, Ph.D., President, National Academy
of Sciences; David J. Mahoney, Chairman and CEO, The Charles A. Dana
Foundation; Percy Wootton, M.D., President, American Medical
Association; John W. Rowe, M.D., President, The Mount Sinai Hospital
and Mount Sinai School of Medicine; Alan F. Holmer, President,
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America; Robert A.
Ingram, President and Chief Executive Officer, GlaxoWellcome; and
others) includes Joan Samuelson, Esq. President, Parkinson's Action
Network and Christopher Reeve, charman of the board of the American
Paralysis Association.  The latter two are the only people on the
committee from organizations that represent a particular disease.

The Funding First web pages contain considerable background info and
fairly current news on NIH funding.  From one of the pages you can
subscribe to a weekly e-mail newsletter.  Take a look.

Phil Tompkins