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.