NAVREF BRIEF UPDATES - August 28, 2001

TO: NAVREF Members
FROM: Barbara West, Executive Director

1. VA-HUD Conference Expected Shortly

2. Technology Transfer Correspondence on VA Web Site

3. New PVA Representative Named for NAVREF Board

4. Password Required to Access Membership List

5. 10th Annual Conference Planning Underway

6. Fall Seminar Registration

7. Bulletin Board – Good Questions!

In conversations this week and last, staff of members of the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on VA-HUD and Independent Agencies indicated that the FY 2002 VA-HUD spending bill may be among the earliest of the thirteen appropriations bills to be taken up for conference.  The VA-HUD bill is perceived as being less controversial than many of the others so legislators are inclined to move it quickly.  Even though this could change when Congress returns after Labor Day, NAVREF members and VA researchers are encouraged not to delay sending letters urging FY 2002 funding for VA research at $390 million as requested in the NAVREF alert sent on August 17 (http://www.navref.org/advocacy/main_alert_081601.htm).  All letters should reach congressional offices by September 7.

A few ideas to help:

• Designate a day when an NPC computer and staff member will be available to assist investigators in writing their letters before and after their VA tour of duty.  Start with the sample letters provided at http://www.navref.org/advocacy/main_alert_081601.htm, and invite PIs to drop in and personalize them.  The staff member can finalize the letters and prepare them for signing and mailing.

• Sponsor a facility sign on letter if investigators appear disinclined to send individual letters.  Take the sample letters posted on the NAVREF web site at http://www.navref.org/advocacy/main_alert_081601.htm and turn them into organizational letters using NPC letterhead.  Add details about the research program at your VAMC.  Then invite investigators and other research personnel (NPC and VA) to sign the letters during their non-VA duty hours.  You should end up with at least three letters – one to each senator and one to your district representative as well as one to any other representative from your state who serves on the VA-HUD appropriations subcommittee.  See lists at the end of this email for members of the subcommittees. 

• Enclose with your letters details about your facility’s needs for research laboratory repair, renovation or upgrading.  Although the House approved the Facilities Rehabilitation Fund, Senate support is shaky at best.  We need to bolster House support and persuade Senate appropriators to support this new line item which provides $30 million specifically for research facilities.

Beginning on October 1, 2001, some NPC employees who have a WOC appointment and are directly involved in research will be required to complete a VA-WOC Appointee Intellectual Property Agreement.  VA's Office of Technology Transfer plans to issue implementing guidance shortly.  In the meantime, background information about VA's Technology Transfer Program is posted at http://www.vard.org/tts/page/page.html.  Recent ORD correspondence with the Council on Government Relations (COGR) that references the agreement and clarifies the VA position on technology transfer can be accessed by clicking on the Technology Transfer Issues button or by going directly to http://www.vard.org/tts/issue/issue~1.htm.

Thomas Stripling, Paralyzed Veterans of America’s Director for Research, Education and Practice Guidelines, has been appointed as a Class B (non-voting) member of the NAVREF board of directors.  Mr. Stripling has over twenty years experience designing research surveys, preparing proposals on health care issues and managing contracts for health and technology research.  His PVA responsibilities encompass managing PVA’s research and education foundations.  He has been a PVA Senior Health Policy Analyst since 1994 and has broad experience in veterans’ health issues.

At the same time as NAVREF welcomes Mr. Stripling, we will miss Andrea Censky Dietrich who has served as the PVA representative for a number of years, first in an acting capacity and more recently as the designated PVA representative on the NAVREF board.  Ms. Dietrich recently resigned from both the NAVREF board and PVA to spend more time with her growing family.  As the PVA Associate Director for Research and Education and a nurse in the Navy reserves, Ms. Dietrich was generous in contributing both her time and expertise to lively board discussions during her tenure.  NAVREF values highly its longstanding relationship with PVA, the veterans service organization most committed to VA research, and we sincerely appreciate PVA’s continuing to designate highly qualified representatives to serve on the NAVREF board.

To protect the NAVREF membership list and reduce junk email and regular mail, a user ID and password are now required for access.  Use the same user name and password that previously were provided to each NAVREF member for access to the NAVREF Bulletin Board.  If you have difficulty or questions, please contact the NAVREF office at navref@navref.org.

Based on a case by case evaluation of the request and the likely benefit to members, NAVREF may provide the membership list to vendors or pharmaceutical companies.  If you are asked for the membership list, please ask the organization to contact NAVREF directly so we may assess the request.

Program Co-Chairs Bob Guancial, executive director of the Buffalo Institute for Medical Research, and Theresa Azevedo, executive director of the East Bay Institute for Research and Education (Martinez and Sacramento), are beginning to work with NAVREF executive director Barbara West to plan NAVREF’s 10th Annual Conference.  Suggestions for program topics are welcome.  Please send your ideas to Robert.guacial@med.va.gov, tazevedo@ebire.org or bwest@navref.org by September 14.

Packages containing registration materials for the NAVREF 2001 Fall Seminar on Understanding, Calculating and Negotiating a Federal Indirect Cost Rate were mailed to NAVREF members on August 20.  If you do not receive yours in a timely fashion, please contact the NAVREF office or go to the NAVREF web site at http://www.navref.org/development/main_fallseminar_2001.htm for logistical information and a registration form.

Good Questions!  Posted on the NAVREF bulletin board are interesting questions and helpful responses regarding such diverse matters as fee-for-service study brokers; laddered CD accounts; cell phones for PIs; etc.  Some good questions are still awaiting responses.  Please take a few minutes to check the bulletin board regularly and to share your insights and policies with your colleagues!

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Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on VA, HUD and Independent Agencies

Alabama - Richard Shelby
Idaho - Larry Craig
Iowa - Tom Harkin
Maryland - Barbara Mikulski, Chairman
Missouri - Christopher “Kit” Bond, Ranking Minority Member
Montana - Conrad Burns
New Mexico - Pete V. Domenici
Ohio - Mike DeWine
South Carolina – Ernest Hollings
South Dakota - Tim Johnson
Vermont - Patrick Leahy
West Virginia - Robert Byrd
Wisconsin - Herb Kohl

House Appropriations Subcommittee on VA, HUD and Independent Agencies

Alabama - Robert “Bud” Cramer
Alabama - Robert Alderholt
Florida - Carrie Meek
Kentucky - Anne Meagher Northup
Michigan - Joe Knollenberg
New Hampshire - John Sununu
New Jersey - Rodney Frelinghuysen
New York - James Walsh, Chairman
North Carolina - David Price
Ohio - Marcy Kaptur
Ohio - David Hobson
Pennsylvania - Chaka Fattah
Texas - Tom DeLay
Virginia - Virgil H. Goode, Jr.
West Virginia - Alan Mollohan, Ranking Minority Member