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qt Z DEPARTMENTOF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVIUS Public Health Service : ' e National Institutes of Health National Cancer Institute . Bethesda, Maryland 20205 December 3, 1982 Dr. Sheldon C. Sommers Scientific Director The Council for Tobacco Research-U.S.A., Inc. 110 East 59th Street New York, New York 10C;22 Dear Charlie: At the fall meeting of the Scientific Advisory Board, I proposed that the Executive Council give some consideration to the possibility that the CTR support training fellowships in the areas of its research interests. Support for research training grants has lessened over the past few years and the number of people being trained ud.der NIH research training grants has dropped from 11,200 in 1979 to 9,700 in 1982. This drop in support is making it more and more difficult for recent doctoral graduates to obtain fellowships. Currently, the first year postdoctoral stipends range from approximately $13,380 (NIH) to $15,500 + $1500 for travel (Damon Runyon). Awards are made on an annual basis with the expectation that they may be renewed for a total of two or three years depending on the source. Postdoctoral research fellowships would provide the CTR with a relatively inexpensive means of providing wide support to many good laboratories. It would engender the good will of the young investigators being supported as well as that of their sponsors. At the fall meeting, it was my im2ression that a good number of grant applications asked for the support of a post- doctoral fellow in addition to costs for supplies, travel, and o verhead.. It seems likely that some of these applicatiods may have been primarily written with the aim of obtaining fellowship support and that the additional reauests may only have been supplemental to give credence to the application. If the CTR had support for training fellowships, some of these applications might have come in with a lower request for funds. - , . . . I would propose that the.CTR coneider..funding individual postCoctoral fellowships which would be competitive and attractive. A stipend of $18,000 a year (plus $2000 for travel and insurance expenses) for the first year after graduation would be attractive•and would certainly compete well with other existing fellowships. The stipend could then increase $1500 for each additional year. Most of the other training grants increase $1000-$1500 at the start of the second year and again at the start of the third year. If the CTR were to award twenty new fellowships a year, there would be an initial first year cost of $400,000 not including overhead costs. The support for 20 first year, 20 second year, and 20 third year fellowship grants would be $1,290,000 not including overhead. I have not

i ~ - -- , J Uj4',l Page 2 - Dr. Sheldon C. Sommers included an overhead figure because I am not sure what the policy of other fellowship granting agencies is. If the payment is made directly to the indi vidual as it is in at least some cases, then it may be possible to avoid any overhead charges. There is currently a critical need for individual training grant support in the medical biosciences. Such grants are a very effective way of allocating research dollars and would serve the CTR well by enabling it to be invplved in the support of more research endeavors in more laboratories. By making the stipends competitive with those of other organizations, the CTR fellowships would become highly sought and I believe would attract the applications of many of the best recent doctoral students. With best wishes, . . . Sincerely yours, T.~ M. Howley, M.D. ~ Laboratory of Pathology .• ,