2009 Public Affairs Committee Report
Fall 2008 Committee Meeting: The Public Affairs (PA) Committee met in
Bethesda, MD in September 2008. One major topic of concern was peer review
issues at the NIH. As changes to the peer review system are implemented,
committee members remain concerned about whether reviewers will receive
appropriate training. This discussion led to the preparation of a letter to
CSR Director Toni Scarpa outlining these concerns. In addition, the
committee recommended collecting more names of APS members who are willing
to serve as reviewers to add to the NIH database.
The committee also discussed training and pipeline issues in the context of
the current challenging economic times. Concerns were raised about whether
training is suffering as a result of eroding research budgets. This has been
an ongoing topic of discussion, and the PA committee may reach out to other
APS committees to collaborate on ways to improve the situation.
The committee also initiated a conversation on how to address financial
conflicts of interest (FCOI) among extramural NIH researchers. Senator
Charles Grassley (R-IA) has shown great concern about unreported and
inappropriate FCOI among physicians and scientists over the last several
years. The Department of Health and Human Services has since published an
Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) on FCOI and extramural
researchers to explore whether the current regulations need to be changed.
The committee met by conference call to discuss the ANPRM, and generated a
response that was submitted on behalf of the APS. The comments can be found
at: http://www.the-aps.org/pa/policy/nih/FCOIresponse.pdf.
In the afternoon of the PA Committee’s fall meeting, nine members traveled
to Capitol Hill to discuss funding for biomedical research with Members of
Congress and their staff. A total of 12 offices were visited.
Summer 2009 Visits to Capitol Hill: The $10 billion NIH received as
part of the economic stimulus package has given rise to concerns about what
may happen in FY 2011 when that money runs out. APS Science Policy staff
arranged for the APS Executive Cabinet to visit Capitol Hill on July 7, 2009
to meet with staff in the offices of Senator Inouye (new Chair of the Senate
Appropriations Committee), Representative Tiahrt (new Ranking Member on the
House Labor-HHS Appropriations Committee) and Representative Wolf (new
Ranking Member on the House Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations
Subcommittee, which allocates funding for NSF and NASA). Advocacy messages
focused on funding for research, specifically in FY 2011, when stimulus
money has been spent. (See “APS Leadership Meets With Congress,” p. 183).
Coalition activities 2008-2009: This year the APS joined with other
advocacy groups in the Research Means Hope effort to undertake advertising
campaigns in the districts of key Members of Congress. The goal is to create
grassroots support for biomedical research through media. Thus far there has
been media outreach in the districts of Representatives Mike Honda (D-CA)
and James Clyburn (D-SC). Further efforts will depend on the success of
these pilot projects, and on the availability of resources.
Experimental Biology 2009: The Public Affairs Committee sponsored a
symposium at EB 2009 in New Orleans entitled, “Scientists and Regulatory
Burden: Navigating the Rugged Landscape.” The session was chaired by myself
and JR Haywood, and the speakers were Sally Rockey (Acting Director of the
NIH Office of Extramural Research), Sara Rockwell (Yale School of Medicine
and Federal Demonstration Partnership), and Nelson Garnett (Consultant, Lab
Animal programs). Attendance was fair and the speakers addressed issues
surrounding regulatory burden, including conflict of interest, the use of
animals in research, and how much regulatory and administrative burden
currently weighs on academic faculty members. The session was recorded and
will be available as a presentation on the APS website.
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