COMMITTEE ON MEDICAL RESEARCH uy 



the purposes of the visit. The missions served important functions. They 

 established many cordial personal relationships and provided an under- 

 standing of the problems faced by the two countries. They frequently suc- 

 ceeded in co-ordinating research programs. They always resulted in a gain 

 of information; and if, towards the end of the war, the British profited 

 rather more than the United States by this exchange, the reverse was true 

 at the war's beginning. 



The British initiated a combined British-American-Canadian surgical 

 mission to the Soviet Union which reached Moscow on July 2, 1943, and 

 returned to England, its point of departure, on July 30, 1943. Lieutenant 

 Colonel Loyal Davis, USAMC, was appointed to represent CMR and NRC 

 on this mission. The meetings permitted an exchange of information con- 

 cerning the medical and research organization of the two countries. The 

 members visited front line and base hospitals and reported on the methods 

 of evacuation and surgical techniques employed by the Russians. 



A second mission to the U.S.S.R., sponsored by CMR, was made by Dr. 

 A. Baird Hastings, CMR member, and Dr. Michael B. Shimkin of the 

 United States Public Health Service, in response to a suggestion by the 

 Soviet Government. Drs. Howard W. Florey and A. G. Sanders represented 

 Great Britain and Canada on this mission, which reached Moscow on Janu- 

 ary 14, 1944, and left on February 11. Manuscripts that had been prepared 

 by American workers and reviewed by British and Canadian scientists were 

 delivered to the Soviet authorities by Hastings. The reports described the 

 status of investigations on ten subjects in which there had been active re- 

 search developments; these subjects were discussed with leading Russian 

 investigators at a series of conferences. The mission also visited twelve re- 

 search and teaching institutes in the Moscow area. A very free and profitable 

 interchange of information occurred, and it was hoped that the visit had 

 established the basis for an enduring relationship. Plans to send another 

 mission to the Soviet Union were interrupted by the termination of hostili- 

 ties, but some contact was maintained by an exchange of literature. 



Liaison with the Services 



The reason for the existence of CMR was to aid the Army and Navy in 

 saving lives in order better to fight the war. To accomplish this purpose, 

 effective liaison was essential. CMR needed to be informed accurately and 

 fully of the needs and interests of the Services. Conversely and for equally 

 obvious reasons, the Services had to be promptly informed of the results 

 gained by research. The formal liaison arrangements appeared adequate for 

 these ends. Sitting with the NRC committees, and therefore in a position 

 to advise them in the initiation of research projects, were designated repre- 

 sentatives of the Surgeons General. Sitting as voting members of CMR, and 



