USF Health's Abdul Rao participates on panel for research partners forum
The NIH, industry and academia must work together toward common goals and take risks, dominate new fields and pursue the most innovative research.
- (1888PressRelease) August 23, 2010 - 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.
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