June 12, 2001
HHMI Announces National Competition for Appointment of Investigators Who Conduct Patient-Oriented Research
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) today announced a
national competition for the appointment of outstanding
physician-scientists as HHMI investigators. The Institute expects to
select between five and 10 new investigators by early next year.
“There has been a steady decline in the number of
physician-scientists who are pursuing careers that integrate direct
patient contact and fundamental biomedical research,” said HHMI
President Thomas R. Cech. “In this competition, we will be
looking for researchers who show the greatest potential for being able
to translate basic science discoveries into useful clinical
applications.”
The completion of the human genome sequence and the advent of other
technological advances such as those in the area of biomedical imaging
are creating new opportunities for bridging the gap between advances in
basic science and clinical research.The new competition seeks to
identify researchers whose scientific work is guided by their
interaction with patients or other human subjects.
Although several of the 340 current HHMI investigators are doing
patient-oriented research, the majority of Hughes scientists focus on
basic research directed toward understanding the genetic, molecular and
cellular bases of human disease. This type of research is generally
characterized as being disease-oriented rather than patient-oriented,
because the research does not require significant contact with
patients.
Letters inviting nominations are being sent to 119 institutions,
including medical schools, research institutes, schools of public
health and some independent hospitals. A committee of distinguished
biomedical scientists will evaluate the nominations, which are due by
September 10, 2001. It is anticipated that the appointments will be
announced by the summer of 2002.
The Institute is a medical research organization that enters into
long-term collaboration agreements with universities and other academic
research organizations, where its investigators hold faculty
appointments. Under these agreements, HHMI investigators and their
research teams, all of whom are employees of the Institute, carry out
their research with considerable freedom and flexibility in HHMI
laboratories located on various campuses. HHMI investigators conduct
basic biomedical research using the techniques of modern molecular
biology.
The previous competition for new investigators, which was completed
in 2000, resulted in the appointment of 48 researchers. The Institute
currently has about 340 investigators on its staff, including six Nobel
laureates and 74 members of the National Academy of Sciences.
The Institute’s biomedical research expenditures this fiscal
year will total about $500 million. In addition to conducting medical
research, the Institute’s large grants program supports science
education in the United States and the research of a select group of
biomedical scientists in other countries. HHMI grants will total more
than $100 million during the current fiscal year.
Established in 1953 by the aviator-industrialist for whom it is
named, the Institute’s headquarters and conference center are
located in Chevy Chase, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C.
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Avice Meehan
