bv the Government agency to enable 

 selected men to obtain training in re- 

 search, to learn techniques in fields 

 other than those of their basic scien- 

 tific education, or to undertake re- 

 search on a full-time basis. Since 

 1921 the fellowship program, sup- 

 ported by the Rockefeller Foundation 

 and administered by the Medical Fel- 

 lowship Board of the National Re- 

 search Council, has made an impor- 

 tant contribution to the ad\ance of 

 medical science and to the training 

 of teachers and investigators in the 

 United States. An increase in the 

 number of such fellowships is greatly 

 needed. 



Grants-in-aid 



A limited number of important re- 

 search projects both of immediate and 

 long-range consequence, will require 

 special grants-in-aid. On occasion, 

 through grants-in-aid, support should 

 be given to medical schools, hospitals, 

 or nonprofit scientific institutions to 

 enable a senior investigator to develop 

 the problems of his interest more 

 rapidly and effectively. 



10. Estimated Cost of Program 



No final statement on costs is 

 possible at this time. From informa- 

 tion received from the deans of medi- 

 cal schools, from the expenditures of 

 the Committee on Medical Research, 

 and from other sources, it is estimated 

 that approximately 5 to 7 million dol- 

 lars annually can be used effectively 

 in the immediate postwar period. A 

 larger sum mav be required when the 

 program is fully underway. This esti- 

 mate does not include the possible 

 assumption of present commitments 

 of the Office of Scientific Research 

 and Development. A more definite 

 statement would require prolonged 

 studv. 



11. The ISeed for an Independent 

 Agency 



Advances in medical science have 

 come and will continue to come pre- 

 ponderantly from medical schools or 

 science departments of universities. 

 Therefore the problem of improving 

 medical research and of training more 

 top-flight in\'estigators is primarily 

 one of aiding the medical schools and 

 unixersities to utilize their research 

 and educational facilities to the full- 

 est extent. 



In the Committee's opinion, medi- 

 cal research could best be promoted 

 by the creation of an independent 

 Federal agency. 



This new organization would not 

 conflict with the medical interests of 

 existing Government agencies, none 

 of which is primarily concerned with 

 developing the basic medical sciences 

 or with training personnel, both of 

 which are functions of the unixer- 

 sities. Some duplication of investiga- 

 tion would occur in problems in 

 which civilian investigators and one 

 or more Government agencies were 

 mutually interested. However, it can- 

 not be too strongly emphasized that, 

 far from being wasteful, duplication 

 is imperative in medical research, 

 where each new discovery can be 

 accepted only after repeated confirma- 

 tion by independent observers ap- 

 proaching the problem from different 

 points of view. The duplication is 

 more apparent than real, as the re- 

 sults of independent in\'estigators 

 working on a common problem rarely 

 agree exactly, and the differences 

 are frequently the basis for new dis- 

 coveries. 



Rather than conflicting with exist- 

 ing agencies, the proposed body 

 would supplement the research activ- 

 ities of these agencies in a valuable 

 manner. Only through the efforts of 



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