tute in 1948, and the National Institute on Arthri- 

 tis, Rheumatism and Metabohc Diseases and 

 Blindness in 1950. Provision was made for addi- 

 tional institutes to be added "as the Surgeon Gen- 

 eral shall find necessary. "248 in 1939, PHS was 

 removed from Treasury and merged with the 

 Office of Education and the Social Security Board 

 to form the Federal Security Agency. 



PHS— World War II and Current Trends 



During World War II, PHS functioned more 

 under its own direction than in World War I, ex- 

 cept that it provided the medical services for the 

 Coast Guard, which in wartime operated as part 

 of the Navy. Wartime research emphasized work 

 on malaria, including entomological studies to 

 differentiate Anopheles mosquitos from other 

 species in order to speed up eradication tech- 

 niques. 249 In 1952, PHS obligations for basic re- 

 search were $14.6 million, all in the life sciences 

 and all under NIH.250 By 1963, this amount had 

 increased to $230.8 million for PHS, of which 

 $217.9 million was for NIH. Reported separately 

 from PHS, there was $1.0 million for the FDA 

 and $44,000 for St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Wash- 

 ington, D.C.^^i The estimates for 1977 are $60.1 

 million allocated for ADAM HA, which was part 

 of NIH in 1963 and now includes St. Elizabeth's, 

 $670.2 million for NIH, $310,000 for the Health 

 Services Administration, and nothing for the 

 FDA. 252 



Breaking down the latest ADAMHA figures for 

 1977, this agency estimates $33.9 million for sup- 

 port of research in the life sciences, $18.5 million 

 in psychology, $6.9 million in the social sciences, 

 and smaller amounts in the other sciences. 253 of 

 the total, about 32 percent is intramural, 52 per- 

 cent is for research performed by universities, 9 

 percent by other nonprofit institutions, 4 percent 

 by State and local governments, and 3 percent by 

 foreign countries. 2-^4 Basic research projects are 

 almost always initiated by the investigator. They 

 are usually supported by grants when the investi- 

 gator is in a university or other nonprofit organi- 

 zation and by contracts when proposals are sub- 

 mitted from profitmaking organizations. 



NIH breaks down its 1977 estimates of basic 

 research support into $607.6 million in the life sci- 

 ences, $10.5 million in psychology, $38.3 million in 

 the physical sciences, $3.2 million in mathematics, 



='*»lbid.,pp. 171-173. 



2''''lbid., pp. 649-650. 



-^Federal Funds. Vol. 11, p. 31. 



-"<' Federal Funds. Vol. XIII, NSF 65-13. T;ible C-18. 



-^-Federal Funds. Vol. XXVI. N.SF 77-317. Table C-.34. 



="Ibid. 



-^■'Ibid., computed from Table C-3(). 



$6. 1 million in engineering, less than half a million 

 in the social sciences, and $3.9 million in other sci- 

 ences. 255 Of the total, 19 percent is done intramur- 

 ally, 0.3 percent in the FFRDC's of other agencies, 

 none in NCI's own FFRDC — the Frederick Cancer 

 Research Center, operated for NCI by Litton Bio- 

 netics — 68 percent in universities, 10 percent in 

 other nonprofit institutions, 1.3 percent by State 

 and local governments, and 0.4 percent in foreign 

 countries. 256 



NIH administers all its extramural basic re- 

 search through grants. Its intramural research is 

 done for the most part at NIH in Bethesda, Md., 

 but the National Institute for Environmental 

 Health Services has its facilities in Research Trian- 

 gle Park, N.C. In addition, NIH has seven in- 

 house field activities which do basic research as 

 well as an animal center. 



The procedures used by NIH and ADAMHA 

 for distributing research funds are generally very 

 similar. Peer review procedures for health re- 

 search supported by the Federal Government 

 were initiated in 1902 with the establishment of 

 the Scientific Advisory Board to assist the Sur- 

 geon General in the administration of the Hygien- 

 ic Laboratory. The Cancer Act of 1937 provided 

 for a National Advisory Cancer Council, which 

 played a key role in recommending the award of 

 grants; this advisory procedure was extended to 

 grants and fellowships in all health research areas 

 by the Public Health Service Act of 1944. 



Since 1947 there has been a dual review system 

 at NIH for all regular research grants. Proposals 

 go to the Division of Research Grants (DRG), 

 which reports to the Director of NIH. DRG gives 

 each proposal to an initial review group, con- 

 sisting of 15-20 specialists in that scientific disci- 

 pline who determine the scientific merit of the pro- 

 posal. Those proposals which are recommended 

 for approval are forwarded to the bureau, institute, 

 or division (BID) having cognizance. Each BID is 

 responsible to an Advisory Council, which must 

 concur if the BID is to make an award. Approval 

 by the Council however does not require the BID 

 to make an award. 



In 1976, a grants peer review study team made 

 up of NIH personnel made an extensive investiga- 

 tion of this system. Their report, from which the 

 above summary was taken, includes the observa- 

 tion, ". . . the Study Team feels that peer review 

 exercises the single most powerful influence on 

 the continued high quality of the Nation's 

 biomedical research elTort . . . ."257 ADAMHA 



-^^Ibid.. Table C--34. 

 -'''Ibid., computed from Table C--30. 



-"Grants Peer Review Study Team, "Report to the Direc- 

 tor. NIH. Phase I.'" [December 1976, pp. 13, 41-43. 45. 



COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS AND HISTORICAL TRENDS 351 



