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For Further Information and copies of "The Financing of Medical Schools" contact: Association of American Medical Colleges Division of Institutional Planning Development 2450 N St., N.W. Washington, D.C. 20037 Phone: (202) 828-0475 Fax: (202) 828-1125 E-mail: lmilas@aamc.org

CHANGES INSTITUTED: With the status change complete, director Francis Collins says he’s now working on setting new goals. Rumors that had been flying around the National Institutes of Health in early January about a status change for the National Center for Human Genome Research (NCHGR) (S. Benowitz, The Scientist, Jan. 20, 1997, page 1) turned out to be true. On January 14, NCHGR officially became the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI). Except for some added flexibility in

Sidebar: For Further Information A mere two drugs currently are available for people who suffer from Alzheimer's disease, and the second, Aricept, was approved only recently. Observers call Aricept a clear improvement over the first medication, Cognex, and are optimistic that it will spur more research into Alzheimer's treatments, opening up more job opportunities for scientists studying the catastrophic brain disease. But they caution against high hopes, as there still is no way to stop its pr

An initiative is under way to make the center an NIH institute; critics, however, argue that unnecessary redundancy would result. The National Center for Human Genome Research (NCHGR), which directs the National Institutes of Health's part in the Human Genome Project (HGP), is poised to become an institute. The necessary steps to change the center's status are already in motion, according to director Francis Collins, who supports the move. PROS AND CONS: Supporters note progress in NIH̵

A Senate bill dealing with dissemination by drug firms of articles describing alternative uses of approved medications could be reintroduced soon. Sidebar: Off-Labels Reprints -- For Further Information CURRENT THINKING: "These are guidelines for companies to follow, says FDA’s Ilisa Bernstein. "It’s not a regulation." As the 105th Congress gets down to business this month, reform of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is expected to be a lively topic of debate, especially in

Sidebar: HEO's Priorities For Action SKEPTIC: Henry Stevenson-Perez says HHS's agenda offers few services to Hispanic members of the public. For years, Hispanic health professionals have contended they are severely underrepresented in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), a situation that they say jeopardizes HHS's ability to serve a rapidly increasing Hispanic population in the United States. HHS itself conceded this in a document released last September, "Hispanic Agenda for Ac

Alliance for Aging Research 2021 K St., N.W. Suite 305 Washington, D.C. 20006 (202) 293-2856 Fax: (202) 785-8574 E-mail: agecom@aol.com Alzheimer’s Association 919 N. Michigan Ave. Suite 1000 Chicago, Ill. 60611-1676 (800) 272-3900 Fax: (312) 335-1110 World Wide Web: http://www.alz.org Eisai America Inc. Glen Pointe Center East 300 Frank W. Burr Blvd. Teaneck, N.J. 07666 (888) ARICEPT Fax: (201)-287-9744 Parke-Davis/Warner Lambert Co. 201 Tabor Rd. Morris Plains, N.J. 07950 (201) 540-

The following resources are available online: October 1996 guidelines on the distribution of journal reprints and medical texts by drug companies issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA): http://www.fda.gov/cder/guidance/fr8oct96.htm Transcripts of an FDA-sponsored public meeting held last October on the promotion of FDA-regulated medical products on the Internet: http://www.fda.gov/opacom/morechoices/transcript1096/fdainet.html Full text of the Coalition for Healthcare Communicati

'IRREPRESSIBLE': Carl Sagan died last month. The late Carl E. Sagan was remembered by friends, former students, and colleagues for his research and his passionate efforts to spark public interest in science at a tribute following his funeral December 23 in Ithaca, N.Y. The Cornell University astronomer, who had battled a bone-marrow disease for two years, died December 20 of pneumonia at age 62 in Seattle, leaving the science community in laudatory mourning. Joshua Lederberg, the Raymond and Be

More than 100 federal employees, administrators, and community-based organizational leaders attended a Sept. 7, 1996, Hispanic Leadership Retreat to discuss how to improve services offered to Hispanics by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the working environment at HHS for Hispanic employees. Retreat participants set priorities for a new vision of the Hispanic Employee Organization (HEO), a group that represents Hispanic employees of HHS. Members narrowed the list, and HEO l

BIDDING ADIEU: David Kessler, who headed FDA for more than six years, says he is pleased with his record. When David Kessler, the commissioner of the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA), announced his resignation in late November, many people were surprised. The controversial FDA head was in the middle of waging war against the United States tobacco industry when he decided to step down after more than six years in the job. His supporters, including public health advocates, contend tha

A MATTER OF PERCEPTION: While T.A. union officials at UC-Berkeley say that 30 percent of T.A.-classes in the natural sciences were shut down, an associate dean calls the union's figures, "wildly exaggerated." Teaching assistants (T.A.'s) boycotted their classes and set up picket lines at three campuses of the University of California (UC) for a week in November in an unsuccessful bid to pressure the administration to engage in collective bargaining with their unions. While estimates of the st