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January 2003


 
IC International Representatives Meeting

January 14, 2003

 

                                                   Summary

Introductions of guests and new members:  Dr. Sharon Hrynkow, FIC Deputy Director, welcomed Dr. Anthony Demsey, the new representative for Office of Extramural Research, Office of the NIH Director; Dr. Peter Henry, attending for the Office of Global Health Affairs; Dr. Ranjan Gupta from Dr. Neureiter’s office at the State Department; and Dr. David Lozovsky representing NIMH.

 

NIH-CRDF Cooperation in Biomedical Sciences

Introducing the guest speaker, Ms. Cathy Campbell, Dr. Hrynkow noted that NIH and the U.S. Civilian Research and Development Foundation (CRDF) have collaborated since 1996, and with financial investments since 1997, and that today’s presentation was not only an update of NIH supported activities, but would also provide an overview of what to expect in the future.  Joining Ms. Campbell, who is Vice President for Programs; were Ms. Inta Morris, Vice President; Mr. David Lindeman, Director, Cooperative Grants Program; Ms. Linda Staheli, Senior Advisor; Ms. Kelly Cronen, Outreach Specialist; and Ms. Emily Hill, Program Assistant.

In her opening remarks, Ms. Campbell pointed out that a continued dialogue with NIH was important to assist CRDF in facilitating the institutes’ research goals with regard to their collaborators from the Former Soviet Union (FSU) and to determine how to use the support provided by NIH in the most effective way.  She noted that in 1995 the National Science Foundation (NSF) established CRDF as a nongovernmental foundation for the purpose of funding high-quality peer reviewed joint research projects to provide FSU scientists alternatives to emigration, to advance the transition of weapons scientists into productive civilian work, and to develop industry-oriented collaborations to help move applied research to the marketplace.  CRDF receives its funding from several USG agencies as well as private sector entities, such as the MacArthur and Carnegie Foundations. 

In a recap, Ms. Campbell noted that since 1997, NIH-CRDF activities encompass proposal development workshops, grants competitions, and joint symposia.  To date, CRDF has awarded $8.2 million in support of 152 biomedical grants involving FSU scientists.  Projects are usually of a 2-year duration at an average cost of $60,000, with 80% of the funding going to the FSU researcher and 20% to the U.S. collaborator.  Most of the funding has gone to scientists in Russia, with the remainder divided among scientists from Ukraine, Central Asia, and the Caucasus. 

Referring to four key findings of a recent analysis of biomedical grants completed through the 2000-2002 cycle, Ms. Campbell noted, the first finding demonstrated that NIH funding is being successfully leveraged with funding from other sources ($6 million has resulted in $8.2 million in project awards).  CRDF has been able to leverage NIH support with funds received from the U.S. State Department ($50 million) and NSF ($8.5 million).  The second finding corroborated that CRDF funded high-quality projects, based on the excellent rate of seven publications per project, mostly in U.S. or international peer-reviewed journals, as well as about six conference presentations per project.  Also encouraging was the fact that about one-third of the survey respondents indicted that they planned some technology commercialization activity.  The third finding noted that these projects are developing sustainability, insofar as the PIs are increasingly able to obtain funding from other sources.  She reported that 99% of the scientists indicated that they plan to continue the collaboration and 90% will apply for new joint grants.  Almost three-quarters of the FSU researchers and half the U.S. scientists confirmed that they are receiving additional support as a result of their previous CRDF-supported research.  Russian scientists receive most of their support from the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, while  U.S. scientists are funded by NIH.  The fourth and last finding confirmed that the projects are providing collaborative benefit, identifying the exchange of ideas as the top benefit.  Ms. Campbell noted that grantees must submit a 3-5-page detailed technical report upon completion of their grant, and she reminded the ICs that the reports are available to them for review.

In line with the program objective to engage former weapons scientists in non-proliferation activities, Ms. Campbell noted that the recent analysis showed that these scientists participated in approximately 49% of the CRDF/NIH projects and that those who responded to the survey indicated that they will continue to work in civilian areas, an important indicator for CRDF and the Department of State.  She also reported that as a result of a series of 11 workshops held in the U.S. in conjunction with a recent competition on minimizing the impact of terrorism on civilian populations, CRDF received 140 proposals from FSU.  After review, 45 proposals were deemed to be meritorious, 27 of those in biomedicine and public health.  CRDF will fund 10 proposals and is now exploring the possibility of funding by other agencies. 

The CRDF Grants Assistance Program (GAP) has been used by USG agencies as well as U.S. industry to transfer funds, materials, and project administration to the FSU.  So far, CRDF has facilitated the transfer of $3.5 million for 7 NIH institutes and 20 universities.  As part of CRDF’s institution building program, an effort to nurture indigenous FSU capacity for merit-based competition, counterpart science funding agencies have been established in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Moldova.  She noted that CRDF has assisted industry to move innovative research to the market, and that CRDF travel grants to FSU scientists support visits to the U.S. to meet with prospective industrial partners.  The CRDF program “Next Steps to Market” funds collaborative research between FSU researchers and U.S. industrial partners.

To help CRDF shape its programs in 2003 and beyond, Ms. Campbell invited input and ideas from the ICs for disseminating program information, particularly for the new rolling cooperative grants program competition, for solving logistical issues related to visa and custom problems, and specifically, to identify other ways of collaborating with NIH to maximize the efficiency and impact of the programs co-funded by NIH.  She announced that CRDF is hoping to hold a series of brown bags at NIH, at which CRDF-supported scientific teams could report on the results of their research.  Another planned activity is a proposal development workshop in Georgia in May.  FIC will follow up on these proposals. 

 

Q&A

Dr. Harford, NCI, pursued the point about the proposal development workshop in Georgia and its relevance to NIH programs and those of other funding sources.  Mr. David Lindeman responded that CRDF and FIC, with participation from a number of other ICs, are co-organizing a workshop in Georgia as a follow-on to a workshop held at NIH five years ago.  The intent of this workshop is to bring potential collaborators together to discuss mutual research interests and to learn about the process of preparing proposals specifically for the CRDF competition in biomedicine.  He added, that CRDF also strongly encourages applications to other funding sources, including NIH, NSF, and the European Union. 

Dr. Krotoski, NICHD, asked about CRDF’s oversight of grants managed in foreign countries.  Ms. Campbell noted that CRDF supports a team of grants administrators who make site visits to the FSU to assure that all terms of the grant are being met and that researchers are complying with U.S. and foreign country requirements.  Working closely with the recently established grant funding organizations in the four countries, CRDF has put much effort into teaching the necessary grants administration skills to program staff. 

Dr. Harford asked about the size of the awards and whether relatively small amounts could support quality work.  Mr. Lindeman recounted the salary levels of PIs and lab technicians in FSU as well as costs for equipment and travel and observed that those costs are compatible with CRDF award levels.  Ms. Campbell commented that CRDF has contemplated increasing the grant amount, however, this would reduce the number of grants that could be funded.  NIH input on this issue would be appreciated.  NCI followed up with a proposal that it would consider providing CRDF funded researchers in cancer-related grants with travel support.  Ms. Murray of NIAAA remarked that, based on past experiences, she would not favor reducing the number of awards to increase the grant amount, since there are now other sources of funding available, and the CRDF grant is often a first step. 

In light of CRDF’s interest in fostering industrial partnerships and NIH’s growing interest in translational research, Dr. Hrynkow inquired if CRDF has plans to move more actively into this area.  Ms. Campbell responded that their Russian counterparts, in particular, have expressed a strong interest in this area and she foresees that this will become a priority.  However, future collaboration will depend on the availability of funds. 

Dr. Adrian Parsegian, an intramural researcher at NICHD, asked to speak briefly about his experience with Armenian colleagues.  He visited Armenia in June to participate in a grant review and was surprised that the Armenians have modeled their evaluation process after the U.S. practices, bringing integrity to a previous corrupt system, in his view.  He emphatically made the point that even small grants have a tremendous impact on local research, because these monies go so much farther.  To underscore the importance of CRDF programs, he referred to a friend’s experience interviewing FSU scientists with nuclear weapons experience, all of whom indicated that they had been approached to work in Iran.  In response, Ms. Campbell commented that CRDF is contemplating on how to follow up on their recent antiterrorism competition and encouraged IC reps to forward any recommendations they may have.

  Strategies to Improve Compliance and Build Grants Administration Capacity at Domestic and Foreign Institutions

Mr. Bruce Butrum, FIC Chief Grants Management Officer, then described several tools developed in his office to assist foreign grantees and applicants.  The FIC Assistance Questionnaire for Financial and Administrative Management Systems helps ensure that foreign grantee institutions have the basic systems to administer NIH funds in place.  The questionnaire is sent to the institutions prior to making of the award in order to make institutions aware of the required compliances.  He discussed briefly the Human Subjects Assurances for foreign institutions and the issues FIC has encountered in verifying the assurances for its training grants. 

He then described the FIC Grants Information Resource Package, a CD prepared by FIC, including modules from NCI and NIAID, on the grants award process and the NIH policies and procedures required to administer NIH grants by the foreign institutions.  This CD, a “self-contained grants office,” has already been distributed to over a thousand foreign grantees and potential grantees at international meetings and FIC program meetings.  He noted that other ICs have requested copies to be distributed at their meetings and that FIC is in the process of producing a new version, to include some information in Spanish.

  Subcommittee on International Nutrition Research

Dr. Raiten gave an update on the activities of the Subcommittee on International Nutrition Research (SINR).  He noted that 20 ICs are represented in the subcommittee, whose goal is to foster communication and collaboration nutrition research and provide technical resources to other agencies; recent presentations focused on activities such as the WHO initiative regarding diet and physical activities and chronic diseases.  Dr. Raiten reported that Dr. Lorelei diSogra, Director of NCI’s 5 A Day Program, was the guest speaker at the committee’s fourth meeting on December 17 and he summarized her message briefly.  The next meeting is scheduled for March 18 and he invited IC reps to attend.

Ms. Minnie Rojo reported on the recent meeting of the HHS International Representatives.  The Secretary’s Office has circulated to HHS agencies a memo from the White House, notifying of the Administration’s policy regarding participation of USG employees on U.S. delegations to official UN meetings.  A copy of the memo is attached.

Secretary Thompson will keep an active international travel schedule for 2003, beginning with his attendance of the upcoming WHO Executive Board; the 4th Round of the Global Fund for AIDS, Malaria and TB; the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland; the World Health Assembly Meeting in Geneva in May; a visit to Rome at Easter; a trip to Africa; possibly a trip to the Indian Subcontinent; and visits to Cyprus and Thailand in October.  She thanked the IC reps in advance for input into briefing papers.

The Secretary had a meeting recently with his G-7 counterparts plus Mexico on the topic of bioterrorism and the strategic global smallpox vaccine.  She reported that the discussions led to two potential initiatives: the Global Health Security Laboratory Network, and a Pandemic Influenza Initiative.  They also agreed to develop a standardization process to insure the diagnostics can be shared and the data can be analyzed together. 

  Department of State Embassy Science Fellowship Program

Dr. Ranjan Gupta from the Office of the Science Adviser to the Secretary, Department of State, gave a brief description of the Embassy Science Fellowship Program, a program Dr. Neureiter, Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary of State, mentioned during his presentation to the IC reps in September.  This program provides the opportunity to serve as “scientist-consultant” working on issues involving science and technology for a period of up to three months at an embassy abroad.  A description of the program and the contact information is attached.

 

In her closing remarks, Dr. Hrynkow invited the group to the January 28 lecture by Dr. D.A. Henderson, the second of a global health lecture series sponsored by FIC to commemorate its 35th Anniversary. 

 

Attendance:

Dr. Sharon Hrynkow, Deputy Director, FIC; Ms. Minnie Rojo, Director, Division of International Relations, FIC; Ms. Chris Keenan, Executive Secretary, FIC; Dr. Philip Chen, OIR; Ms. Ana Maria Puente, HRSA; IC Reps: Dr. Zakir Bengali, CSR; Ms. Karen Kun, NCCAM; Dr. Joe Harford, NCI; Mr. John Whitaker, NEI; Dr. Ruth Hegyeli, NHLBI; Ms. Marta Campbell, NIA; Ms. Peggy Murray, NIAAA; Dr. Karl Western, NIAID; Dr. Danuta Krotoski and Dr. Dan Raiten, NICHD; Dr. Steve Gust, NIDA; Mr. Baldwin Wong, NIDCD; Dr. David Lozovsky and Dr. Donna Mayo, NIMH; Ms. Patricia Turner and Dr. Yuan Liu, NINDS; Ms. Linda Cook, NINR; Ms. Julia Royall, NLM; Ms. Linda Reck, OAR; Dr. Anthony Demsey, OER; and FIC staff Mr. Kevin Bialy, Mr. Bruce Butrum, Dr. Ken Bridbord, Ms. Emmy Cauthen, Dr. Andrea Egan, Dr. Pierce Gardner, Mr. George Herrfurth, Dr. Allen Holt, Ms. Judy Levin, Ms. Sonja Maderas, Dr. Jeanne McDermott, Dr. Kathy Michels, Dr. Rachel Nugent, Dr. Aron Primack, Dr. Luis Salicrup, Dr. Barbara Sina and Ms. Natalie Tomitch.