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the projects now going on involve extensive cooperation
over a period of time with many people.21

On the basis of such figures and considerations as we have here set forth, the subcommittee believes that a realistic goal for Federal expenditures on research in aging-a goal to be achieved over a period of 5 to 10 years as competent personnel and proper facilities become available-would be approximately 1 percent annually of total funds paid out for Federal programs for the aged. Recommendations as to the amounts which could properly be used during the initial 2 years of a carefully planned program of federally supported research on aging, should, we believe, be forthcoming from the administration and it is our intention to request such a recommendation.

A NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF GERONTOLOGY

If we are to keep abreast of and cope with the problems which an increasingly aged population will create for our people and for our society, we should move at once to strengthen the research and research grant activities of the National Institutes of Health in the field of aging.

Our belief that the existing Institutes of Health, in their administrative procedures and organizational aspects, furnish excellent mechanisms for stimulating and supporting training in several important aspects of aging has been strengthened by many observations such as the following:

In my opinion, the Government procedures for awarding grants for research, especially through the National Institutes of Health, is excellent. Adequate funds are available, the panel members passing on the grants are well qualified, objective and fair, and the procedures are very good indeed.Dr. Ross McFarland, Harvard University Department of Industrial Hygiene (Cambridge, Mass.).

In my opinion the procedure for administering Government grants currently employed by the National Institutes of Health is highly commendable, both from the viewpoint of the research investigator and from the standpoint of the efficient use of funds.-Dr. H. H. Draper, Associate Professor of Animal Nutrition, University of Illinois (Urbana).

My colleagues and I found (NIH) helpful, understanding, and effectively organized in our dealings with them. Especially were we impressed with the use of professional persons from the country at large.-Dr. Max Kaplan, Boston University (Massachusetts).

The National Institutes of Health sets a standard for research so that it is difficult to make old mistakes. It has cultured science with a breadth and geographic dispersity that anticipated our urgent need for scientific growth as a nation. At its best our present system allows the random discovery and growth of scientifically elite persons who would not as likely be found in less disperse systems for

21 John E. Anderson, "Research on Aging," Aging in Western Societies, edited by Ernest W. Burgess, professor emeritus of sociology, the University of Chicago: the University of Chicago Press, 1960, p. 374.

support of science. Dr. Hardin B. Jones, the Arts Center,
University of California (Berkeley).

Beyond the strengthening of existing mechanisms, there is, however, urgent need to create a single mechanism, at the Federal level which would serve to demonstrate to universities, foundations, voluntary organizations, and the public, the importance of these problems to the Nation, and which would properly guide the distribution of funds for the various types of gerontological research which are now almost totally neglected.

Our conclusion is buttressed by comments such as the following— Although many significant contributions to our knowledge about aging will continue to be made by individual investigators working in universities, hospitals, and Government laboratories, it is clear that because of the complexity and importance of the problems in gerontology, the organization of research institutes devoted specifically to gerontology will be required. Such an institute will give opportunity for daily contacts between workers in many scientific disciplines and will encourage coordination programs in which the techniques of many different fields of science can be applied to the same subject material.22

What is imperatively needed to achieve a breakthrough is the establishment of a new institute which has its sole objective the promotion of significant gerontological research.

This new organization should be a National Institute of Gerontology of equal status with the existing public health institutes. It should be supported by funds granted by Congress. Its mandate should be to cover adequately all the aspects of gerontology: biological, economic, educational, political, psychological, and sociological. Its operation should include the planning of a program of projects that will significantly advance both basic and applied research.23 *** *many leaders in the medical and biological areas of aging are likely to oppose such an institute because they think it might result in the fragmentation and transfer of research in the existing special institutes to such a new institute. I would be opposed to any breakup of the research of any of the existing medically oriented institutes of health. But there are vast gaps in the present aging research. It is my belief that a National Institute of Gerontology should be responsible for covering these gaps and fostering an effective interrelationship among the areas covered by the existing institutes.24

The function of research as conducted by such an institute or center as we suggest would be scientific, analytical, directional, and integrative. In the words of one of the participants in the subcommittee research seminar:

Scientific research, in the long run, must be motivated by more than curiosity, or by the need to construct a closed

22 Nathan W. Shock, "Trends in Gerontology," 2d ed., Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1957,

p. 173.

23 Professor Emeritus Ernest W. Burgess, University of Chicago.

24 Prof. Wilbur J. Cohen, the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor).

system of congruent propositions and general theory. It
must also, in order to survive and grow, be useful in the
lives of the members of society. What we are interested in
here and now is the contribution that research can make to
the solution and alleviation of the problems associated with
the process of aging, ranging from cell change in the indi-
vidual organism to the role change in the social body. An
organization like an institute of gerontology, I think, would
be the best means by which such research could be stimu-
lated and coordinated, without the duplication and gaps so
often resulting from the lack of such stimulation and coor-
dination.

The Government mechanism, as we have suggested, should have the following characteristics:

1. It should be so located, so financed, and so directed as to command the same prestige as do our excellent National Institutes of Health.

2. Like the existing national institutes, it should conduct research on its own, particularly as regards what we have described as policy research, but the greater part of the funds allocated to it should be spent in the form of research and training grants-with emphasis on block grants to universities and other public nonprofit organizations willing to undertake meaningful research, training programs, and demonstrations in the field of gerontology.

3. Like the existing national institutes, it should have a council to consider and pass on all contemplated grants and research projects. The council should be composed of outstanding social scientists and laymen, all of whom have demonstrated interest in, and knowledge of, the problems created by the aging process and it should have, as exofficio members, representatives of other Federal agencies concerned with aging.

4. Its research program-both its own and that of its granteesshould emphasize the interdisciplinary approach and give particular attention to the social sciences.

5. It should establish and maintain a scientific environment of high order both intramurally and with respect to its outside grants for research and training.

It is therefore our recommendation that the Congress promptly establish a National Institute of Gerontology with sufficient funds and staff to give the national leadership and recognition which research in the field of aging requires and deserves. The establishment of this institute should in no way reduce the obligation of existing institutes to support those areas of aging within their immediate scientific interests. Rather it should add to the total national investment in promoting the health, welfare, and productive ability of an increasingly aging population.

SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS ON RESEARCH

1. The Federal Government should immediately step up its support for research in aging and for the training of personnel to conduct such research. As personnel and facilities become available, Federal expenditures for such research should approximate 1 percent of all

funds spent or administered annually by the Federal Government in connection with programs for older persons.

2. The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, through its research arms, should continue its program of large-scale block grants to universities to support interdisciplinary research centers in the field of aging. In doing so, it should give increased attention to centers in which the primary focus is on the economic and social aspects of aging.

3. An effective research program in the field of aging requires support for long-range studies and thus for research grants with committed support for 10 years or more. Provision should also be made to support career investigators in the field of aging.

4. Grants should be made for teaching positions in gerontology in various universities for interuniversity training projects for faculty members, scientists, and other professional personnel, and for scholarships and fellowships to attract and train good research persons in the field.

5. The Federal Government should not only finance multidisciplinary research to be carried on by universities and other nonprofit organizations, but should itself, carry on basic and applied research, with particular emphasis in the area of social sciences.

6. Direction of the research program should be the responsibility of a National Institute of Gerontology staffed by competent scientists qualified to lead in both the physical and social sciences.

*

SENATE SUBCOMMITTEE ON PROBLEMS OF THE AGED AND AGING Seminar Medico-Biological-Chemical Researchers, Tuesday, October 4, 1960

PARTICIPANTS

Dr. Albert I. Lansing, University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine, department of anatomy, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Dr. Nathan Shock, chief, gerontology branch, Baltimore City Hospitals, Baltimore, Md.

Dr. Joseph H. Gerber, director, Center for Aging Research, Public Health Service, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Bethesda, Md.

Dr. Ewald W. Busse, chairman, department of psychiatry, School of Medicine, Duke University, Durham, N.C.

Dr. Geoffrey H. Bourne, professor and chairman, anatomy department, Emory University, Atlanta, Ga.

Dr. John E. Kirk, Washington University, St. Louis, Mo.
Subcommittee staff: Harold L. Sheppard and Alice É. Robinson.

Seminar-Social Science Researchers, Wednesday, October 5, 1960

PARTICIPANTS

Prof. John E. Anderson, Institute of Child Development and Welfare, University of Michigan, Minneapolis, Minn.

Dr. Wilma Donahue, chairman, Institute for Human Adjustment, Division of Gerontology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich. Dr. Edward A. Jerome, Acting Chief, Section on Aging, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Md.

Dr. Leo W. Simmons, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, N.Y.

Dr. Gordon F. Streib, director, study of occupational retirement, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.

Dr. Marian Radke Yarrow, Chief, Section on Social, Developmental and Family Studies, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Md.

Dr. Fred Slavick, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.

Dr. Clark Tibbitts, Chief, Program Planning, Special Staff on Aging, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Washington, D.C. Subcommittee staff: Sidney Spector, Harold L. Sheppard, and Alice E. Robinson.

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