COMMITTEE ON MEDICAL RESEARCH lOI 



meeting on August 7, 1941, and outlined the research programs which they 

 had planned or envisaged in their various fields. It was declared at that 

 time that CMR would lean heavily upon the advice of the NRC commit- 

 tees and subcommittees in formulating its program and the Consultants 

 undertook to inform their subcommittee Chairmen of the relationship 

 between CMR and NRC and of their responsibility to initiate and rec- 

 ommend research projects. 



From July 1941 till the end of the war, the NRC committees met fre- 

 quently in Washington, the more active groups as often as once a month, 

 to consider proposals for research in their special fields. The members at- 

 tended these meetings regularly, with considerable interruption to their 

 civilian responsibilities and with no financial compensation beyond travel- 

 ing and maintenance expenses. As the requirements for research changed, 

 expanding in many directions, contracting in some, the organization of 

 the committees changed similarly. In August 1945, there were 12 major 

 committees and 34 subcommittees with 315 members. The major commit- 

 tees, whose Chairmen served as Consultants to CMR, dealt with the fol- 

 lowing subjects: aviation medicine; chemotherapeutic and other agents; 

 convalescence and rehabilitation; industrial medicine; information; medi- 

 cine; neuropsychiatry; pathology; sanitary engineering; shock and transfu- 

 sions; surgery, and treatment of gas casualties. 



There were disadvantages to this relationship between CMR and NRC, 

 stemming from the dual functions which the NRC committee members 

 were required to exercise. They had been appointed by the NRC to NRC 

 committees. Insofar as they sat around a table and formulated advice for 

 the Surgeons General they were functioning in their capacity as members 

 of the NRC committees. When, sitting around the same table, they rec- 

 ommended proposals for research to CMR, they were functioning as ad- 

 visers or consultants of CMR. When they advised the Surgeons General 

 on the basis of CMR research it would be difficult to define their capacity. 

 This situation led to some confusion; several members of NRC committees 

 went through the war only vaguely familiar with CMR, unaware that it 

 paid the expenses of their meetings and incompletely aware that the ulti- 

 mate responsibility and entire expense of the research program was its 

 province. It is fair to say that this confusion was an annoyance rather than 

 a hindrance to the success of the program and that it was minimized by 

 general confidence in the integrity of the principals. Given the situation 

 as it existed in July 1941, the collaboration was an obvious and desirable 

 arrangement. The advantages outweighed the disadvantages by far. Ini- 

 tiation of research was expedited by months at a moment when time was 

 of the essence. CMR gained the advice of several hundred men, who were 

 specialists in their fields, already organized, and somewhat familiar with the 

 needs of the military. 



