Grants for research centers located in universities, medical centers, and other nonprofit
research institutions account for about 9 percent of the National Institutes of
Health budget. Centers are popular because they can bring visibility, focus, and
increased resources to bear on specific diseases. However, congressional debate in
2001 over proposed legislation directing NIH to set up centers for muscular dystrophy
research highlighted several areas of uncertainty about how to decide when
centers are an appropriate research mechanism in specific cases. The debate also
highlighted a growing trend among patient advocacy groups to regard centers as a
key element of every disease research program, regardless of how much is known
about the disease in question, the availability of experienced researchers, and other
factors. This book examines the criteria and procedures used in deciding whether to
establish new specialized research centers. It discusses the future role of centers in
light of the growing trend of large-scale research in biomedicine, and it offers recommendations
for improving the classification and tracking of center programs, clarifying
and improving the decision process and criteria for initiating center programs,
resolving the occasional disagreements over the appropriateness of centers, and
evaluating the performance of center programs more regularly and systematically.


Table of Contents


Front Matter
Executive Summary
1 Introduction
2 Current Use of Center Awards
3 Initiation and Management of Center Programs
4 Criteria for Establishing Center Programs
5 Evaluation of Center Programs
6 Closing Comments and Thoughts About the Future
Appendix A: NIH Centers Programs
Appendix B: Biographical Sketches of Committee and Staff
Appendix C: NIH Research Award Activity Codes and Their Definitions
Appendix D: NIH Program Planning Process
Appendix E: Justification for Center Programs Used in Recent RFAs and PAs
Appendix F: Summaries of NIH Selected Center Program Evaluations Previously Conducted by NIH