Tampa, FL
The Tampa Club

The NIH, industry and academia must work together toward common goals and take risks, dominate new fields and pursue the most innovative research. These and other key messages were conveyed by National Institutes of Health Director Elias Zerhouni, MD, and other leaders in research during "Research: The Risks, the Rewards and the Returns-a Florida Perspective," Research!America's most recent research partners forum.

"We must accelerate our discoveries on a fundamental level," said Zerhouni, who served as both keynote speaker and panelist. "We realize more and more that you just can't do it without collaboration across the board."

Our forum, presented in partnership with Novartis and the University of South Florida, was in Tampa, Fla., in late November. More than 100 leaders from industry, academia, government and the media convened to discuss how to increase awareness and understanding of Florida's health research enterprise. The event was web cast statewide.

Brenda Blanchard, vice president public affairs, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, and Judy Genshaft, PhD, president, University of South Florida, provided welcoming remarks.

"Research in Florida has grown like the state-recently, explosively and creatively," Genshaft said. "This is a state that has embraced innovation."

Mary Woolley, president, Research!America, followed with an overview of the Florida state poll conducted earlier that month. Included were the findings that 96% of Floridians think it is important for the state to be a leader in medical and health research, however, a majority could not name an institution, company or organization in the state where this research is conducted.

Zerhouni then joined the following panelists for a broader discussion: Marjorie Gatlin, MD, vice president, U.S. Clinical Development and Medical Affairs for the Cardiovascular and Metabolic Diseases Therapeutic Area, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation; Nancy Loving, founder and executive director WomenHeart: the National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease; Abdul Rao, MD, MA, DPhil, senior associate vice president, University of South Florida Health, and medical director clinical research, Tampa General Hospital; Jay Roland, news editor, Sarasota Herald Tribune; and B. Jack Sullivan, Jr., president and chief executive officer, Florida Research Consortium. Heidi Godman, ABC 7 news anchor/medical editor, WWSB, Sarasota, served as moderator.

Gatlin and Rao both spoke to the need to break down barriers to research as a way to clear paths to innovation.

"As an industry, we are investing more and more in developing new drugs, but the rate of new drug approvals has been falling off over the last several years," Gatlin said. She said Novartis, in partnership with the FDA and their critical path initiative, now have their own internal process to identify a more effective approach.

All agreed that another challenge is attracting high caliber people to research career pathways.

"The number of applicants and qualified applicants has decreased at USF," Rao said. "This will hurt us down the road."

Gatlin and Loving addressed the impact of heart disease in Florida and gender and ethnic disparities in research.

"There have been huge advances in cardiovascular research, but not everyone has benefited," Loving said, adding that patient advocacy can make a crucial difference

Sullivan spoke to the economic impact of research conducted in Florida's state universities, saying this $1.5 billion enterprise filters down through the economy to grow to $5.8 billion, with returns back into state tax coffers of more than $224 million.

"[Research] is a major factor in the Florida economy," he said.

Roland and Godwin agreed that the media can help Floridians to become more aware of the role of research in the state-how it saves lives and saves money, and where it is conducted-if research advocates work to keep them informed.

"Our readers crave information about medical and health-related issues," he said. "You have a ready market out there."

For a copy of the forum transcript, call Cindy McConnell at 703-739-2577, ext. 35. For USF's report of the forum, visit http://health.usf.edu/publicaffairs/newsreleases/newsrelease11202006.html.

Program Co-sponsors:

Novartis
University of South Florida

Photos by Eric Younghans/USF Health