One of the hallmarks of liver research is the incredible breadth of scientific areas it crosses. At the NIH, no fewer than 18 institutes, centers, and offices are involved in funding important live research projects – most conducted by AASLD members. This wide exposure has always been a strength for the field and creates multiple opportunities for researchers to access NIH funding.
However, there has long been an undercurrent that NIH is too diverse, too difficult to manage, and has too many organizational units. This argument was made in an article in Science magazine by Dr. Harold Varmus at the time of his exit from the NIH Director position. During the reauthorization of NIH’s governing statute by Congress in 2006, the prospect of merging and abolishing institutes was discussed, and the legislation created a Scientific Management Review Board (SMRB) for the purpose of recommending organizational and management changes.
The SMRB held its first meeting on April 27 and 28. One of the agenda items was whether to consider merging the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) with the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA). Dr. Gyongyi Szabo, the Chairwoman of AASLD’s NIH Liaison Committee, was the first public witness to testify before the Board and spoke strongly against such a merger. Her oral testimony was based on written testimony submitted in advance to the Board by Dr. Szabo and Dr. Scott Friedman, AASLD President. Eight other witnesses spoke against the merger.
At the conclusion of the two-day meeting, the SMRB voted to create three working groups. The first will develop a set of guiding principles for what an institute should look like, what its ideal size is, how it should operate, etc. The second will look at the NIAAA-NIDA issue. The third working group will review the NIH intramural program.
In the Board’s discussion, it seemed that there was little enthusiasm for merging the two institutes. Board Chairman Norman Augustine suggested that the solution for these two institutes may be maintaining two separate institutes but creating a closer collaborative relationship. Other Board members commented that it would be difficult to move ahead with considering the merger until the first working group finished its work. And, since working groups at NIH have a life span of 24 months, it seems like this is not going anywhere soon.
Nevertheless, it is critically important that AASLD retain its focus on this important issue. NIAAA funds about $30 million of alcohol-related liver disease research per year. NIDA, on the other hand, is much more focused on brain and behavioral-related research and not on the end-organ damage that results from substance abuse. The merger of the two institutes could have significant repercussions for the field. Dr. Szabo’s testimony has laid the groundwork for AASLD to continue working to prevent this from happening.