CHAPTER VII 



COMMITTEE ON MEDICAL RESEARCH 



X 



HE Committee on Medical Research (CMR) was established 

 as a principal subdivision of OSRD by Article 8 of Executive Order No. 

 8807 of June 28, 194 1. As stated in that Article: 



The Committee on Medical Research shall advise and assist the Director in the 

 performance of his medical research duties with special reference to the mobiliza- 

 tion of medical and scientific personnel of the nation. To this end it shall be the 

 responsibility of the Committee to recommend to the Director the need for and 

 character of contracts to be entered into with universities, hospitals, and other 

 agencies conducting medical research activities for research and development in 

 the field of the medical sciences. Furthermore, the Committee shall from time to 

 time, on request by the Director, make findings and submit recommendations 

 with respect to the adequacy, progress, and results of research on medical prob- 

 lems related to national defense. 



The Committee consisted of four members appointed by the President 

 and three others designated respectively by the Secretary of War, the Secre- 

 tary of the Navy and the Administrator of the Federal Security Agency. 

 The latter three were selected from the staffs of the respective Surgeons 

 General with particular reference to their qualifications in the field of medi- 

 cal research. 



The membership of the Committee was as follows: Alfred Newton 

 Richards, Chairman (pharmacologist, University of Pennsylvania); Lewis 

 H. Weed, Vice-Chairman (anatomist, Johns Hopkins University; Chairman, 

 Division of Medical Sciences, National Research Council); Alphonse R. 

 Dochez (professor of medicine, Columbia University); A. Baird Hastings 

 (biochemist. Harvard University); Colonel (later Brigadier General) James 

 Stevens Simmons (Chief, Division of Preventive Medicine, Office of the Sur- 

 geon General); Rear Admiral Harold W. Smith (Chief, Research Division, 

 Bureau of Medicine and Surgery) ; Lewis R. Thompson, to November 1942 

 (Director, National Institute of Health); Rolla E. Dyer, from November 

 1942 (Director, National Institute of Health). 



At its first meeting on July 31, 1941, the Committee requested Bush to 

 appoint Weed as its Vice-Chairman and Stewart as Executive Secretary, and 

 these appointments were made. 



Although the practice varied somewhat from time to time, the Commit- 



