Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today regarding FY 2008 funding for the National Institutes of Health’s Institutional Development Award or “IDeA” Program. The IDeA program is funded by NIH’s National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), and was authorized by the 1993 NIH Revitalization Act (P.L. 103-43).
My name is Dr. Peter Alfonso and I am the Vice Provost for Research, Graduate Studies and Outreach and Dean of the Graduate School at the University of Rhode Island. I submit this testimony on behalf of the Coalition of EPSCoR/IDeA States. EPSCoR is the “Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research,” and IDeA, as previously stated, is the NIH’s Institutional Development Award program.
IDeA is an important program because it increases our nation’s biomedical research capability by improving research in states that have historically been less successful in obtaining biomedical research funds. Twenty-three states and Puerto Rico are eligible. IDeA funds only merit-based, peer-reviewed research that meets NIH research objectives.
As previously mentioned, IDeA was authorized by the 1993 NIH Revitalization Act (P.L. 103-43), but the program was funded at very low levels during its early years. However, between FY 2000 and FY 2003, IDeA grew rapidly, due in large part to the thoughtful actions of this Subcommittee. This funding permitted the initiation of two new program elements:
The first was COBRE or “Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence;” which are research clusters targeting specific biomedical research problems. The COBRE program is designed to increase the pool of well-trained investigators in the IDeA states by expanding research facilities, equipping laboratories with the latest research equipment, providing mentoring for promising candidates, and developing research faculty through support of a multi-disciplinary center, led by an established, senior investigator with expertise in the research focus area of the center.
The second was BRIN or “Biomedical Research Infrastructure Networks;” which targeted key areas such as bioinformatics and genomics and facilitated the development of cooperative networks between research-intensive and primarily undergraduate colleges. The BRIN grants underwent competitive renewals in 2004 under the new name of IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE). The INBRE program prepares students for graduate and professional schools as well as careers in the biomedical sciences, supports research and mentoring of young investigators, and enhances research infrastructure at participating institutions.
Although IDeA is relatively new, there is already objective evidence of its success. In FY 1999, the year before COBRE grants were initiated, IDeA states received a total of $595 million from NIH. In FY 2005, NIH funding for the IDeA states had increased to $1.556 billion, representing an increase of 162% in six years. It is important to note, however, that in the following year as the IDeA budget started to decrease, NIH funding for the IDeA states fell to $1.458 billion, the same level as in FY 2003.
I would like to describe a few examples of how both COBRE and INBRE (formerly BRIN) grants have changed the biomedical research landscape of Rhode Island. The first COBRE award in Rhode Island was made to Brown University in 2000. Prior to this award the biomedical research infrastructure of the University was severely lacking and the interactions between researchers at Brown and at other institutions within the state were minimal at best.
The COBRE award allowed the PI to fund five promising junior investigators, all of whom won subsequent major NIH grants by the end of the award period. State-of-the-art core facilities in microscopy, genomics, and transgenics were established and staffed with Ph.D. level directors. Seminar series and workshops were initiated with COBRE funding, and served as the basis for developing collaborative ties with researchers throughout the state. COBRE funding also was directly translated into the establishment of a “Center for Genomics and Proteomics” at Brown that included the purchase and renovation of significant new research space in an old industrial section of the city. This area of the city has now been filled with new businesses and is prospering.
The 2000 COBRE award was renewed for another five years and the focus is now on signaling and cancer, with the long term goal of establishing a cancer center. Since the first COBRE award to Brown University in 2000, three other COBREs have been awarded to three separate institutions: Rhode Island Hospital, Roger Williams Hospital, and Women and Infants Hospital. In all three cases, the awarded funds have directly led to the establishment of critical Core Facilities that provide new faculty with valuable access to state of the art instrumentation that they would not be able to acquire through standard grant award mechanisms For all of these reasons, COBRE is a critical mechanism of support for states with limited budgets for research support.
The 3-year BRIN grant, awarded to Rhode Island in 2001 and competitively renewed as INBRE for five years in 2004, provided another mechanism for addressing both the lack of critical mass of biomedical researchers at the University of Rhode Island and other primarily undergraduate institutions in the states, and the lack of high-end state-of-the-art equipment for biomedical research at these institutions. Lack of critical mass and the necessary infrastructure to support biomedical research meant that existing researchers were unable to perform cutting edge research and effectively compete for research dollars from Federal agencies such as the National Institutes of Health. Meager startup funds available for hiring new faculty hampered efforts to recruit quality research-oriented faculty. There were limited opportunities for student training in faculty laboratories, and finally, there was a lack of the type of interinstitutional cooperation needed to create a network of biomedical researchers.
Through funding received as a result of the BRIN/INBRE awards, more than $2 million in biomedical research equipment for genomics, proteomics and drug development studies has been purchased and housed in a renovated laboratory. This equipment is accessible to all researchers from the participating institutions: University of Rhode Island; Rhode Island College; Providence College; Roger Williams University; Salve Regina University; and Brown University Through BRIN/INBRE funding, the Center for Molecular Toxicology at the University of Rhode Island was established. The Center has allowed us to leverage the creation of new faculty positions at all participating institutions in the related thematic areas of toxicology, cell biology and environmental health, and helped provide competitive new faculty startup packages. New faculty research, coupled with regularly scheduled seminars and workshops, is generating increased student interest in research and also greater training opportunities for students in faculty laboratories. Greater student training in turn translates into workforce development in the biomedical and biotechnological fields.
The Rhode Island BRIN/INBRE awards have led to the creation of an effective state-wide collaborative network of biomedical researchers, which is essential for implementing an environment that will foster collaborative research. Finally, and most importantly, this funding has helped biomedical researchers in our state to achieve greater success in competing for federal research dollars. This is the ultimate goal of the IDeA program.
Despite these successes, our task is far from complete. Funding disparities between the states remain and may have a detrimental impact on our national self-interest. And that is why the IDeA program is so important. It is helping to ensure that all regions of the country participate in biomedical research. Citizens from all states should have the opportunity to benefit from the latest innovations in health care, which are most readily available in centers of biomedical research excellence.
For this reason, I am deeply concerned by the FY2008 Budget Request for the IDeA program. The FY 2008 Budget Request for the IDeA program is $210,963,000, which is a $9,023,000 decrease from the FY2006 level of funding for the program. This is the second year in a row that the IDeA program has been cut in the President’s Budget. The FY 2007 Budget Request was the first time since 1993 that the budget request for IDeA was below the previous year’s appropriated level for the program.
I applaud the efforts your Subcommittee has made over the years to provide increased funding for IDeA, and hope that you will continue to invest in this program, which is so important to almost half of our states. The cut proposed in the FY2008 Budget Request will have a crippling effect on the biomedical research centers, researchers and students in IDeA states. The IDeA program is important to so many in our states, but especially to the junior investigators who are starting to become competitive for NIH funding. I think we send these young investigators the wrong message by cutting or even possibly eliminating funding for their research projects after encouraging them to pursue a career in biomedical research.
For this reason, the Coalition of EPSCoR/IDeA states believe the program should be funded at $250 million in FY 2008. This level of funding would restore and continue funding for COBRE and INBRE, provide funding for information technoIogy (IT) infrastructure upgrades through IDeANet, and also, some funding would be used for a co-funding program, which would allow researchers and institutions to merge with the overall national biomedical research community.
By any reasonable standard, an already proven “IDeA” for increasing biomedical research capacity in a cohort of states which comprise one-sixth of our population and yet still receive barely one-twentieth of the NIH budget, deserves increased support. I am sensitive to the tough budget environment that NIH has faced over the past four years. Yet, when I consider that in 2005, the top 7 states that were recipients of NIH funding received over a $1 billion each, California alone received over $3 billion, $250 million for 23 states and Puerto Rico seems more than reasonable. Every region of the country has talent and expertise to contribute to our nation’s biomedical research efforts – and every region of the country must participate if we are to increase our nation’s biomedical research capacity substantially. On behalf of the Coalition of EPSCoR/IDeA States, I thank the Subcommittee for the opportunity to submit this testimony.