David Ho, In Hall of House Rayburn

David Ho
February 3, 1993
in hall of House Rayburn
I think it's different from the mp that led to the bomb. he's not talking abou
bringing individuals together, he's talking about coordination, this is my
interpretation, maybe it's coordinated through the office of aids research
which would define the important areas for research. what are they? is it to
understand the biology toward aids? is it to und. pathogenesis in vivo? and
then to try and use that information towards therapeutics and vaccines
i tell him my definition, is that needed.
i'm going to in a few minutes testify on half of enhanced coordination and
strategic planning. i'm not saying the current system doesn't work. it could
be better. and with this disease we should be shooting for something more.
that's what pediatric aids foundation did with the ariel project. i'm one of
the benificiaries. it moves faster. it all depends on whether the right
individuals are involved, for this project to early. to me, such a plan could
be effective...
what's broken
it's slow. you have to set up in the current system you have to be fair. you
have to say we've identified an area of competition, it's open to all
investigators, it's a fair system and that's very important. But when you're
facing an emergency, and most people would consider AIDS to be one, you have
to say are we worried about that or are we worried about finding solutions.
And i think some sort of proper balance of both would be nice. You could still
try to move as quickly as possible and be fair in selecting individuals to
particiapte in various projects. And you could have mini-Manhattan projects on
several projects. I realy don't have any clear notion of what the
administration thinks and wants about a Manhattan project
would you support several ariel projects.
i do. the ariel project addresses vertical transmission of hiv. very clear
question. there's a working group that dani bolognesi chairs for niaid that
addresses imp issues for vaccine development, you could look at these for
bringing people together. and dani, with tony's support, is actively talking
about moving fast, perhaps using mechanisms diferent
master contract
yeah. whatever different from existiting
how long does it take
you need to sit down for a few months to even write a proposal and then you
have to wait for the next funding cycle. So let's say 3 months. and you're not
going to hear anything for another 3 or 4 months. And even if you're funded
you have to wait another 3 months. So it's a 9 month-12 month lag period and
this is fast, this is expedited for aids. plus a new idea without preliminary
data wil get you nowhere in a review section so it's unlikely to be funded on

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