JOHN E. FOGARTY INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR ADVANCED STUDY IN THE HEALTH SCIENCES STATEMENT OF DR. PHILIP E. SCHAMBRA, DIRECTOR SUMMARY STATEMENT Senator HARKIN. Dr. Schambra, we have your statement and your budget request is for $16,355,000, and we are interested in hearing about the opportunities for involving more scientists from the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Please proceed. Dr. SCHAMBRA. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. For over 20 years, the Fogarty International Center [FIC] has served as the international arm of the National Institutes of Health. FIC's efforts have helped propel the NIH to a leading position in international biomedical research. FIC's mission is to facilitate international collaboration, and the Center accomplishes this with several key undertakings: funding basic research and training; negotiating and administering bilateral and multilateral agreements; and developing policies for creating new opportunities for cooperation. I would like to illustrate these diverse activities with a few examples. Our research and training programs support United States and foreign scientists at different stages throughout their careers. We believe strongly that international collaboration must reach into the laboratory, giving scientists the chance to work side by side. Our fellowship programs for young foreign investigators and midcareer U.S. researchers supported 128 scientists from countries worldwide in the past fiscal year. Among their achievements is a new diagnostic blood test for the highly infectious dengue fever, which occurs in epidemic proportions in the Caribbean and other tropical regions. FIC also funded 140 United States and foreign investigators through special AIDS research and training programs. These programs greatly add to the army of scientists able to conduct research on the spread of AIDS and conduct drug and vaccine clinical trials, particularly in developing countries. Additionally, the Center brings eminent United States and foreign scientists to the NIH for a year of advanced study. These Scholars-in-Residence published more than 60 scientific papers during the past fiscal year. Their studies are breaking new grounds in such areas as neurobiology and vaccine immunology. In fiscal year 1989, FIC also administered NIH's involvement in 73 formal research agreements with 39 countries and multilateral organizations. For instance, FIC negotiated new technology agreements with Bulgaria and Hungary, and helped the Japanese Government develop its Human Frontier Science Program, a new (923) source of research funds for United States and other investigators. The Center launched a Latin American initiative, which has two main objectives: to facilitate cooperation in new research efforts, such as those on the human genome and neurological diseases; and to increase training opportunities for junior Latin American scientists. PREPARED STATEMENT In short, Mr. Chairman, we have had a busy year, one full of scientific advances and new policy initiatives. Such accomplishments promise improved health to people worldwide-a promise fulfilled only by international collaboration. Our fiscal year 1991 budget request is $16,355,000, and I would be pleased to answer any questions you may have. [The statement follows:] STATEMENT OF DR. PHILIP E. SCHAMBRA The benefits from international cooperation in scientific research stretch back to the origins of modern medicine. They illustrate how much is gained whenever men and women of different cultures and viewpoints congregate. In the 17th century, for instance, the young English physician William Harvey traveled to Italy's University of Padua, then the world's leading medical research center. There, Harvey studied with the great Italian anatomist Fabricius, who believed blood flows in and out of the heart like the ebb and flow of the tides. Their collaboration incited Harvey, on his return to England, to devise a series of inventive experiments to see if Fabricius was correct. Contrary to Fabricius' views, Harvey found that the heart pumps the blood to circulate throughout the body--a key discovery in the history of medicine. This turning point hinged on two researchers from two nations working together in one laboratory. As biomedical scientists face the 21st century, such international collaboration is more vital than ever for achieving the advances necessary to improve the health of people worldwide. It is the mission of the Fogarty International Center (FIC) for Advanced Study in the Health Sciences to facilitate such collaboration. For over 20 years, FIC, the international arm of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has worked to promote worldwide collaboration on many levels--scientist-to-scientist, institute-to-institute, and nation-to-nation. FIC accomplishes this goal in part through a variety of fellowship and exchange programs that support scientists at every career stage and bring about the kind of dramatic advances made possible by Harvey's sojourn in Italy. I would like to briefly illustrate some of these programs and their rewards. Our International Research Fellowship (IRF) program brings junior foreign investigators to work in U.S. laboratories. It has supported more than 2,700 scientists from more than 50 developed and developing countries since 1958. In the last fiscal year (FY) alone, FIC funded 90 IRF awards to investigators from 35 countries. Their work has produced such gains as the following examples: O A new diagnostic blood test for the viral disease dengue fever, a highly infectious illness that occurs in epidemic proportions in the Caribbean and other tropical regions. The new test resulted from collaborative research by an IRF awardee from Thailand and scientists at the University of Massachusetts. Their test uses recombinant DNA technology to detect antibodies to dengue fever in a blood sample. The test is simple and reliable, and will help physicians diagnose the sometimes fatal disease in its early stage. It also will enable epidemiologists to monitor future dengue outbreaks. o Discovery of a biochemical abnormality in the brain that may play a role in epilepsy. An IRF from Italy, collaborating with scientists at the University of Maryland, found the brain mechanism for producing and releasing quinolinic acid, an amino acid important in transmitting nerve messages. The researchers believe that an abnormal concentration of quinolinic acid in the brain contributes to 26-182 0-90---30 the development of epilepsy. If so, certain forms of epilepsy may be treatable by correcting the faulty brain mechanism. The Senior International Fellowship (SIF) program supports moreestablished U.S. scientists to conduct research overseas with foreign colleagues. Since 1975, the SIF program has funded nearly 650 U.S. scientists; in FY 1989, it awarded fellowships to 38 U.S. investigators. Their studies are making such strides forward as the following: O Discovery of mechanisms in the brain involved with memory storage. A University of Alabama SIF and scientists at the Australian National University investigated specialized structures that transmit messages as electrical impulses between nerves. work may lead to the development of ways to reduce the memory deficits caused by such progressive neurological disorders as Alzheimer's disease. Their Finally, Fogarty's Scholars-in-Residence program brings internationally renowned U.S. and foreign scientists to the NIH, where they conduct advanced studies and interact with the Institutes' investigators. In the past fiscal year, these scholars published more than 60 scientific papers on such topics as calcium's role in muscle functions and cardiac failure, and genetic markers for coronary disease susceptibility. Their accomplishments include the following: Potential new types of vaccines based on immune-cell manipulation. A scholar from Sweden's University of Stockholm and investigators at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases have identified which CD4 and CD8 immune system T cells react to the foreign chemicals or antigens produced by specific malaria parasites. These T cells stimulate the secretion of IL-2 lymphokine, a substance that increases immune system activity, intensifying the body's ability to destroy invading bacteria. The finding will help scientists choose antigens for use in effective malaria vaccines--and perhaps lead to T-cell immunity vaccines for other diseases. Fogarty also has created special research and training fellowship programs as a response to the global AIDS epidemic, which has spread from its initial risk groups to women and children, particularly those in African and other developing countries. These programs are training much-needed epidemiologists from developing countries, so they can conduct research on the spread of AIDS and perform drug and vaccine clinical trials. In FY 1989, these programs supported 140 participants from 26 countries. Fogarty's many international activities extend beyond its grant and fellowship support, however. The Center serves as the keystone in guiding Federal Government policymakers and coordinating the 73 formal agreements between the NIH and 39 countries and multilateral organizations, such as the World Health Organization. These efforts include administrating NIH participation in collaborative clinical drug trials and other studies, and fostering new initiatives for international cooperation. These efforts are crucial because of the speed with which new health menaces spread worldwide and the changing political conditions that can open or close doors to collaborative research. For instance, Fogarty has moved quickly to take advantage of the changes occurring in Eastern Europe, where eased political constraints are creating new opportunities for scientific collaborations. Our efforts in FY 1989 included helping to negotiate a new science and technology agreement between the United States and Hungary. The agreement, proposed by President Bush, targets cooperative projects in medicine and the environment. It also establishes a joint fund to support collaborative scientific research. Members of our staff also were part of a delegation to Moscow that successfully expanded the U.S.-U.S.S.R. Health Agreement to include NIH collaborations on the human immunodeficiency virus, which causes AIDS, and medical primatology, which deals with the use of primates in medical research. Western Europe is undergoing dramatic changes, too, and Fogarty has been preparing policy papers for the White House Science Advisor on what the 1992 economic merger will mean for U.S. biomedical research. Fogarty also has begun a "Latin American Initiative." The initiative's objectives are twofold: to facilitate cooperation in new research efforts, such as those on the human genome and neurological diseases; and to increase training opportunities for junior Latin American scientists. I have time to mention only two other interesting activities. First, I have agreed to be the NIH coordinator for a Vaticansponsored conference on the neurosciences, a field whose importance was underscored by congressional legislation making the 1990's the "Decade of the Brain." As coordinator, I will help develop and organize the participation of all of the Institutes. Finally, our staff helped the Japanese Government and other Economic Summit countries plan and implement the new Human Frontier Science Program, which will support basic research on the brain and molecular biology. The 1990's promise unprecedented opportunities for collaborative scientific projects. By taking advantage of these opportunities, we can improve the health of Americans and of people worldwide. Our 1991 budget request is $16,355,000. Mr. Chairman, |