>>NIH director to USF: Take risks, dominate new fields

--By Michael Hoad

Pursue the most innovative possible research, the NIH director told USF leadership November 28.
"Young universities can make an impact in emerging areas," said Elias Zerhouni, MD, director of the National Institutes of Health. "Enter new fields. Whether it's biosensing or nanobiology, even though they are not the beaten path. These are the kinds of risks you need to take.

"And take them now, don't wait, that's how you will come to dominate a field. Go to ground-breaking areas."

Dr. Zerhouni spoke at a forum on research in Florida sponsored by USF Health, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, and Research!America.

The forum was organized to host a dialogue about research in Florida, and Dr. Zerhouni spoke of the remarkable opportunities and challenges for research(see his article last week in Science: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/314/5802/1088.)

But he especially emphasized USF's role in developing new fields.

"The University of South Florida has really made an impression, especially in areas that did not exist before."  In his talk, he explained that "we must transform medicine from curative to pre-emptive. We need to understand the disease pathways, years before the disease strikes. … We must take care of these conditions in ways that are completely different than how they are today.

USF and the state of Florida have taken the challenge, said USF President Judy Genshaft. "Research in Florida has grown like the state – recently, explosively, and creatively. This is a state that has embraced innovation."

The path to innovation comes from breaking down barriers, said Abdul S. Rao, MD, MA, DPhil, senior associate vice president for research at USF Health and director of clinical research at Tampa General Hospital.

USF has broken down barriers internally, and the research forum itself was a symbol of partnerships across the state. Dr. Rao arranged for the forum to be webcast statewide, helping Research!America, which is the primary lobbying group in Washington that advocates for biomedical research.

Speaking at the forum: Dr. Zerhouni, Dr. Genshaft, Mary Woolley, president of Research!America; and Brenda Blanchard, vice president public affairs of Novartis.

The panelists were: Dr. Rao; Marjorie Gatlin, MD, vice president, U.S. Clinical Development and Medical Affairs for the Cardiovascular and Metabolic Diseases Therapeutic Area, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation; Nancy Loving, founder and executive director, WomenHeart: the National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease; Jay Roland, news editor, Sarasota Herald Tribune; B. Jack Sullivan, Jr, president and chief executive officer,  Florida Research Consortium.

- USF Health -

USF Health is a partnership of the University of South Florida's colleges of medicine, nursing, and public health; the schools of basic biomedical sciences and physical therapy & rehabilitation sciences; and the USF Physicians Group. It is a partnership dedicated to the promise of creating a new model of health and health care. One of the nation's top 63 public research universities as designated by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, USF received more than $310 million in research contracts and grants last year. It is ranked by the National Science Foundation as one of the nation's fastest growing universities for federal research and development expenditures.