NIH Director Dr. Collins Applauds NAEVR’s Efforts

NAEVR Executive Director James Jorkasky with NIH Director Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D. at a recent NIH meeting

In a January 10 letter to NAEVR Executive Director James Jorkasky, National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D. applauded the Alliance’s work to convey the importance of sustained funding for NIH and the National Eye Institute (NEI). Dr. Collins made his remarks in light of NAEVR’s coverage in its quarterly Contributor Report of the activities of the NIH’s Scientific Management Review Board (SMRB), the entity created by the NIH Reform Act of 2006 to make recommendations on NIH management and structure issues.

NAEVR has testified frequently at SMRB meetings, including in May and September 2010 on abolishing the separate Drug and Alcohol Institutes and creating a new “National Institute of Substance Use and Addiction Disorder,” and in September and December 2010 on the creation of a centralized translational research authority, which has resulted in the newly established National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS).

In 2006, NAEVR’s efforts were also commended by former NIH Director Elias Zerhouni, M.D.