Specter announces NIH funds

U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) announced a proposal to increase funding for medical research through the National Institutes of Health, in an on-campus meeting Monday. Several faculty members from the Penn Medical Center joined him for the announcement. Specter, a University alumnus, chairs the Senate's Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee, which governs funding for NIH. During the last fiscal year, the University received $174 million from NIH to pay for several areas of medical research. The Medical Center was the fifth-largest recipient of NIH grants in the country. An increase in NIH funds would likely lead to more money for research at Penn. Specter said NIH-funded research needs to "focus on women's health issues, which have long been neglected." In allocating the new funds, special emphasis will be placed on breast cancer research. University researchers intend to especially focus on the central cause of this disease. Researchers believe defective genes may be a primary contributor to the illness and once these genes are located and identified, progress can be made toward finding a cure. Several Medical Center researchers attended Specter's briefing to discuss their recent medical advances and plans for future NIH-funded research. Under the leadership of Obstetrics and Gynecology Chairperson Jerome Strauss, who also directs the Center for Research on Reproduction and Women's Health, researchers have discovered the master gene that controls steroid hormones affecting the healthy development of the fetus. Molecular and Cellular Engineering Chairperson James Wilson, director of the Institute for Human Gene Therapy -- the first of its kind internationally -- has conducted clinical trials on cystic fibrosis and hypercholesterolemia. His research will enable him and his colleagues to create the materials that may lead to the eventual development of a cure, Wilson said yesterday. Director of the Center for Addiction Research Charles O'Brien, a Psychology professor, has pioneered research for the treatment of alcoholism. A product of the center's research is the development of naltrexone, the first new drug approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration to combat alcoholism in 50 years. Finally, Radiology Professor Mitchell Schnall, who directs magnetic resonance imaging research, is creating advanced mammographic technologies that will prove most beneficial to the future treatment of breast cancer, he said. Specter said he announced the NIH funding proposals at Penn because of the University's huge research staff. He lauded University faculty members for their research accomplishments to date. He added that he is confident future progress will come from Penn faculty expertise and collaborative prowess. Medical School Dean William Kelley said NIH-funded research has far-reaching implications. "Penn faculty produce biomedical advances that lead to cures for disease, to better methods of diagnosis, and to preventive measures like vaccines," Kelley said. "The ultimate beneficiaries [of the funding] are the citizens of Pennsylvania and the nation -- in fact, the world."