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PREPARED STATEMEKT OF HEPHEN A. FICCA 



Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, I greatly appreciate the opportu- 

 nity to appear before you to discuss the infrastructure of our Federal laboratories. My 

 testimony today will focus on the current condition of the research facilities of the Na- 

 tional Institutes of Health, and the impact that these conditions have on the institutes' 

 research missions. 



NIH now consists of 21 institutes, centers and divisions with broad mandates in 

 areas as diverse as aging, cancer, heart disease, and acquired immunodeficiency syn- 

 drome. Simply stated, the goal of NIH research is to acquire new knowledge to help 

 prevent, detect, diagnose, and treat disease and disability, from the rarest genetic dis- 

 order to the common cold. 



As a result of investment in NIH research, concepts that were not understood and 

 technologies that did not exist as recendy as 10 years ago are saving lives today. Evi- 

 dence of the scientific excellence and continued productivity of the NIH Intramural 

 Program is found in its extensive publications, new drug applications (NDA's) on file 

 with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and its collaborations with industry 

 and academia, and breakthrough research such as the world's first clinical experiment 

 to treat patients with gene therapy. The NIH has played a major role in reducing mor- 

 tality from heart disease and stroke? in developing new drug treatments that have 

 given children with cancer a better than 50 percent chance of living a normal life; and 

 in the discovery of vaccines to protect against infectious diseases that once killed and 

 maimed miUions. Unfortunately, many diseases are yet to be conquered. As we speak 

 here today, researchers at NIH are working on better ways to prevent and treat can- 

 cer, blindness, arthritis, diabetes, AIDS, ana Ahheimer's Disease, to name a few. 



As NIH continues to confront disease and disability, our intramural research pro- 

 gram, which represents 1 1 percent of our budget, faces unprecedented stress on its 

 very foundation. For that portion of our activities, the National Institutes of Health 

 intramural program - a distinctly American contribution to the health of the world - 

 depends heavily on the facilities that house the scientists dedicated to increasing life 

 expectancy and decreasing pain and disability. As the next century approaches, we 

 must pause to consider the profound ramifications of past decisions and pressures that 

 have impacted on the repairs and maintenance to our buildings and facilities. Without 

 increased attention to these often unseen and sometimes mundane infrastructure pro- 

 jects, NIH intramural research activities will be similarly affected. 



Evolution of the NIH Campus 



In 1930, the Ransdell Act redesignated the Hygienic Laboratory, located in Wash- 

 ington, D.C., as the National Institute of Health. 



In 1935, Mr. and Mrs. Luke Wilson made the first of several land gifts that now 

 form the nucleus of the present 320-acre Bethesda reservation. 



The original buildings, constructed in the late 1930's to mid-1940's, consisted of a 

 cluster of laboratories surrounding Building #1 (now named the James A. Shannon 

 Building), which served as both the main administration center and the power plant. 

 The most notable addition to campus came in 1953 with the dedication of the Clinical 

 Center - NIH's research hospital. The Clinical Center was re-dedicated in 1981 to the 

 late Senator Warren Grant Magnuson. 



The 1950's, though certainly not ancient history for many of us, was a time of 

 seemingly ancient technology and knowledge by current standards. In 1952 there were 

 nearly 600,000 cases of poHo in the United States. Dr. Jonas Salk, using the findings 

 of an NIH-supported team of Harvard researchers, developed a vaccine and in 1954, 

 400,000 children were inoculated against this crippling disease. The 1950's were also a 

 time when a blood transfusion posed a high risk of contracting hepatitis B, and when 

 chemotherapy was only an experimental treatment for cancer patients. In 1950 no one 

 had yet imagined a fax machine, much less a CAT scanner, or the advent of biotech- 

 nology that would allow us to even contemplate the miracle of gene therapy. 



