Revised Minute of the 67TH Meeting of the Board of Directors of Oak Ridge Associated Universities

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Minute 2 of the minutes of the67th meeting of the Board of Directors of Oak Ridge Associated Universities, as corrected at the68th meeting, "2. Report of the Medical Program Review Committee The Medical Progam Review Committee, consisting of seven outside consultants,was established at the65th Board meeting (minute 14) and met on March 3-4, 1966. Its report was sent to each Board member, together with staff comments, for study in advance of this meeting. Drs. Gould A. Andrews and Ralph M. Kniseley, chairman and assistant chairman ofthe Medical Division, attended the Board meeting during the discussion of the report. On balance,the Board thought the report was more favorable than critical. Board comments were confined to broad consider at ions and constructive steps that might be taken to implement suggestions made by The consultants recommended the concentration of the physical facilities in one location. There was complete agreement on this point ; however, over the years the Board's effort to accomplish that have not been successful inasmuch as the program is funded by AEC and AEC has not provided the funds for it, i s now i n ORAUls budget request to AEC for FY 1968. A comprehensive plan i s being presented and will require budget provisions each year for several years following FY 1968. An item fora building t o house the program The searching questions in the report on the location of the Medical Division inOak Ridge are addressed more tothe AEC than to ORAU since the facilities and equipment are the property of AEC; it was AEC, not ORAU, which made the decision to construct them inOak Ridge. The questions are asked i n such a way as to imply negative answers. On the other hand, since it is not feasible to move the Medical Division from Oak Ridge, the policy of the Board must be one of working t o make the program prosper in its present location. The extensive biological, agricultural, and ecological programs i n Oak Ridge are not only strengthen - e d by the clinical outlet provided by the Medical Division, but together with it constitute a unique complex, the potentialities of which should be developed to the full. It was pointed out in the discussion that the Commission maintains a number of clinical programs, but, as far as we know, only the one a t Argonne Cancer Hospital is fully integrated with an adjacent,large, academic clinical program. The others utilize clinical material at some distances (Donner Lab uses Highland Hospital i n Oakland, Dr.Tap lin of UCLA uses Harbor Hospital and two other separate hospitals, and the Brookhaven Medical Center is i n Upton, Long Island). Other searching questions relate to the mission of the Medical Division. Ultimately this is established by AEC inthe "Description of Work" article of OR AUt s contract and by broad guidance provided by the Division of Biology and Medicine on a continuing basis. hand, the Commission has left to the Board latitude in specific program direction and looked t o ORAU as it has to other contractors to take the On the other

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initiative in formulating new and imaginative program directions. The Board appreciates this freedom inthe management of the medical program and has been sensitive to the responsibility it involves. The Board has regularly reviewed the medical program and advised the executive director and chairman ofthe Medical Division respecting it and has also established committees of experts to advise it, such as this Ross committee and a n earlier one under Dr. Kaplan. will consider carefully this report ' s basic questions relating to mission in the light of its contractual responsibilities to the Atomic Energy Comnission. In this connection the question raised in the report about the relationship of the Medical Division to the new University of Tennessee Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences being established in Oak Ridge was responded t o by 'a member of the Board, Mr. Spivey, who is vice - president for academic affairs of the University of Tennessee. He assured the Board that it is the intention of the University of Tennessee t o make full use of the Medical Division in the program, although specific details must await the arrival in September of the director,Dry R. Clinton Fuller. It would seem also that the name given this school would imply the involvement of medical as well as biological interests. should serve further to strengthen the entire biomedical complex i n Oak development of the Medical Division in its Oak Ridge location to the full. The Board also has no information on the establishment of a new medical school i n East Tennessee. be of real benefit to the Medical Division. This promising facility This further Bnphasized the decision of the Board t o push the Should such a school materialize, it would The comments in the report on the lack of communication between ORAU and ORNL staff were discussed by the Board. The program review conducted by the staff seems t o have failed to give the committee an adequ ate picture of the present situation, which has improved markedly i n the last few years. Mr. Pollard assured the Board that he and Mr. Weinberg had discussed this point and that both are anxious t o develop the closest possible relationships,especially when the new director of the Biology The Board noted that this is a perennial problem even between related departments inthe same institution. The degree of collaboration already achieved was welcomed and the Board urged the staff to take every opportunity to increase such collaboration in the future. The Board discussed the comments in the report on the lack of visible evidence of interest or involvement o f medical schools of ORAU sponsoring institutions in the Medical Division. The Board toois concerned on this score. The staff of the Medical Division was urged to visit member schools more frequently,to give lectures,meet with medical school staff, and generally excite interest on campus inthe work here. Mr.Pollard expressed the hope that the situation will be improved by the newly appointed Campus Representatives on the Council and the proposal toes tab - Education Committee and the Transuranic Elements Committee recently committee of medical school deans similar to the Engineering

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The Board welcomed and concurred in the strong recommendation i n the report that a long-range policy of consolidating the scattered facilities of the Medical Division in a single location be adopted. I n approving the construction with corporate funds of the new marmoset research laboratory on ORAU land,the Board did so with the hope that AEC could be persuaded t o do all future new construction on this same st li table arrangements for doing government construction on this privately The Board agreed to cooperate with the Commission i n working out The Board was pleased with the committee's enthusiastic comments on our series of symposia and the publications arising from them, the con- - tri but ions made by the Medical Division to the study and treatment of radiation accident victims,. and the elegance of the whole body counting gram shifts,particularly the NASA program, which have required staff shifts leading to the present understaffed condition of this facility noted in the report. staff be provided for fully utilizing this fac il - ity and that every effort should be made to secure adequate funding from AEC to this end. Board was assured by the staff that,contrary to the opinion of the committe e,the clinical material t o occupy these counters will be obtainable. The suggestions of the committee with respect to types of research to be pushed with this facility are valuable and welcomed by both the Board and the staff. Three suggestions were made by the Board for increasing the utilization of this facility : (1) sponsor a special symposium on the whole body counter,(2)acquaint other agencies and centers with its possible uses, and (3)report its distinctive features in the open literature. With respect to the latter, Mr.Pollard reported on the proThe Board felt that it was important that adequate Both the Board and staff concur with the committee on the de sir - ability of more pre doctoral and postdoctoral appointments inthe Medical Division. The Board was pleased with progress made i n both areas in the last year and urged that efforts be made to increase the number of post - doctoral fellowships available to the Medical Division in the AEC's Post doctor a l.. .. Fellowship Program. The evaluation of individual research programs in the report is of great value. FJhile recognizing the undesirability of conducting "research by committee" and realizing that experts in the same field often differ in their judgment of the value of particular projects,the Board is nevertheless dependent on expert opinion in carrying out its ultimate responsibility for the quality of the medical program which ORAU has contracted to carryout for the AEC. In this connection Nr. Pollard provided each member ofthe Board with a copy of the current issue of "Experimental Hematology,ll a journal published by the Biology Division of ORNL,which features the experimental program i n Immunotherapy of Leukemia. Although the committee report is quite negative in its evaluation of the appropriateness of this research,this publication makes it clear that it isa leading example of the kind of collaboration with OWL which elsewhere t h e committee urged should be encouraged.

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Without attempting to pass on the merits of individual research programs, the Board supported the Division ' s policy of recent years t o concent rate efforts on the more promising projects. advantages of the multidisciplinary approach to solving problems, the Board urged a policy of concentrating resources whenever possible on the most promising developments in preference to applying limited resources to apr or at a support of all research groups equally. The Board was appreciative of the final recommendation ofthe cornmittee that a top level review committee for our Medical Division be estab - li shed on a continuing basis with rotating terms extending over several years and that this committee make annual reports to the Board. It was agreed that this should be done and the Board asked the staff to prepare recommendations for the composition of such a committee and procedures for its operation for consideration at the next meeting of the Board. The Board asked the executive director to thank each member of the committee on its behalf for the evident effort and seriousness which they gave tothe review ofour medical program and the preparation of the report, The report proved helpful to the Board in clarifying its own thinking about and policy direction of the Medical Division. The report of the Medical Program Review Committee and the comments o n it prepared by the Medical Division staff are attached as Appendix A.