Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Launching the New Program
Congress appropriated the first funding for the program,
$2 million, in 1959. There were to be several centers. These
centers were to be geographically distributed, be part of
a university environment, and support biomedical and
health research broadly instead of being limited to
a particular area such as cardiovascular research. Hal
Eyestone played a key NIH staff role along with Dr Burch,
NHI staff, and others in getting the program up and
running. He shortly became the new program's first
director. Richard Dukelow has provided a detailed account
of early center development and the personalities involved
in his topic, The Alpha Males (
Dukelow, 1995
).
Following announcement of the new program in
January 1960, the NIH received 11 applications. Seven
applications were approved by the study section which
reviewed the applications. NHI awarded the first grant to
establish the Oregon National Primate Research Center
(Oregon NPRC; originally each center was designated as
a regional primate research center, but they were later re-
designated as national primate research centers)
FIGURE 1.3
Dr Karl Meyer, initially trained as a veterinarian,
headed the Hooper Institute at the University of California, San
Francisco, for many years. He was a respected researcher in infectious
diseases and played a key role in the initial development of the national
primate research centers program, particularly with the center in California
NPRC. He may have been the first to publish a paper in the emerging field
of laboratory animal medicine. (Photo courtesy of
www.wikipedia.org
)
in
Beaverton, Oregon.
With a congressional appropriation of $7 million in
1961 for the following years, NHI awarded grants to
establish the Washington NPRC at the University of
Washington in Seattle; the Wisconsin NPRC at the
University of Wisconsin in Madison; the Yerkes NPRC in
Atlanta in association with Emory University; the Delta
NPRC in association with Tulane University at Covington,
Louisiana (later renamed the Tulane NPRC); and the New
England NPRC in association with Harvard University at
Southboro, Massachusetts (
Figure 1.4
).
Still preoccupied with the perceived need for a national
“station,” the advisory council of the NHI continued
to urge the establishment of a conditioning center for
nonhuman primates. Its function was to be the develop-
ment of techniques for procuring, conditioning, and
maintaining various nonhuman primates for study. In 1962,
NHI awarded a grant to establish such a center at the
University of California, Davis. The center, initially
designated as the National Center for Primate Biology,
later became the California NPRC. This change was made
after it became apparent that it was much more important
and realistic to have the California center function as
a NPRC rather than serving the more specialized role
originally envisaged.
By the time the initial establishment of the seven centers
was complete in 1968, the eight years of cumulative federal
funding provided by the NIH totaled about $52 million,
including funds for the purchase of land sites, construction
of the centers' facilities, other start-up costs, and a rapidly
expanding research program. Administration of the
program was formally transferred from the NHI in 1962 to
effort were George Burch, a noted cardiovascular researcher
from Tulane University, and Willard “Hal” Eyestone,
a veterinary pathologist on the NHI staff.
Congress received the planning report on the NIH's
plans for a nonhuman primate program in mid-1959. This
plan reflected a transition in thinking about a single station,
as conceived by NHI, to a number of smaller nonhuman
primate research centers. These centers were still to focus
on cardiovascular research, but their roles were expected to
expand to include “other disease categories and other
disciplines, until ultimately the functions of the stations or
centers is the full and complete investigation of
the
primate” (
Anonymous, 1968
).
The NIH planners felt that the focus of the centers
should be on research and not just on serving as a source of
monkeys and that support should be provided by the NIH
for a long period of time. Between 50 and 100 years was
originally suggested. Other ideas also became cornerstones
of the new program. Research was to be conducted on
nonhuman primates in conjunction with other basic and
clinical studies. Investigations were to be carried out on the
usefulness of various species of nonhuman primates in
research. A national reservoir of information on nonhuman
primates and for nonhuman primate research was to be
provided. There were to be facilities for visiting scientists
and research training. Extensive local participation with
appropriate universities or research institutions and the
need for seeking outside funding to augment
the core
budget were also identified as basic concepts.
