For Immediate Release

Contact: John M. Martino
Phone Number:  (215) 895-1186
Date: 09/05/02

University of the Sciences in Philadelphia to Present Health Policy Symposium on Funding of Medical Research

Medical Research in America has greatly improved our lives and promises even greater benefits in the future.  Financial support behind this huge research enterprise has three primary but separate and distinct sources:  government, industry and foundations. To address this important topic, University of the Sciences in Philadelphia will host a half-day health policy symposium, titled "Who Should Fund Medical research?  The Roles of Government, Industry and Foundations," on Friday, September 20.  The event will take place 8 a.m. in Wilson Student Center (Room 205) on USP's campus, located at 43^rd Street and Woodland Avenue.  Attendance is free but reservations are required.  For more information, call (215) 596-7616.

The symposium will consist of a panel of several leading health policy experts who will address issues facing medical research today and in the near future.  The panelists (bios listed below) include:  Francis D. Chesley, Jr., M.D., of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; Elaine K. Gallin, Ph.D, of Doris Duke Charitable Foundation; and John T. Kelly, M.D., Ph.D, of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.  The keynote address, titled "Growth and Trends in Funding for Research," will be delivered by Frank R. Lichtenberg, Ph.D, Courtney C. Brown Professor of Business at Columbia University.

Guest Speakers:

Frank R. Lichtenberg, PhD is Courtney C. Brown Professor of Business at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business and a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research. He received a BA and Honors in History from the University of Chicago and an MA and PhD in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania. He has served as an expert for the Federal Trade Commission, the United States Department of Justice and state Attorney General. He has also been visiting scholar at the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin and the University of Munich. His research has examined how research and development affects the productivity of companies, industries and nations. His book Corporate Takeovers and Productivity is published by MIT Press. In 1998, he was awarded the Schumpeter Prize for his paper, Pharmaceutical Innovation as a Process of Creative Destruction.

Francis D. Chesley, Jr, MD, is Director of the Office of Research Review, Education, and Policy in the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. He provides leadership in the development of health services research training and career developing programs, directs the Agency’s research grant application peer review activities, and is responsible for extramural research policies and procedures. He received his MD for Georgetown University Medical School and completed a General Internal Medicine Fellowship in the Department of Medicine at Georgetown University Medical Center.

Elaine K. Gallin, PhD, is Program Director for Medical Research at Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. She received a PhD in biology from the City University of New York and completed postdoctoral fellowships in physiology at Johns Hopkins University Medical School and Columbia University Medical School. She previously serviced as Chief of the Division of Cell Physiology at the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute. She has served on the Physiology Study Section at the NIH and other peer review panels, as well as professional committees including the Council of the Biophysical Society.

John T. Kelly, MD, PhD, is Senior Vice President of Scientific and Regulatory Affairs at the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. Previously, he served as Director of Physician Relations for Aetna, Inc., President of USQA, Aetna’s clinical information management unit, Vice President and Director of Medical Affairs of HBO & Co., Director of the Office of Quality and Utilization Management of the American Medical Association, and Acting Medical Director of California Medical Review, Inc. He received his MD from Harvard Medical School and his PhD from Harvard University.

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