I am sure that many on the CANCHID listserv will be interested in seeing this announcement.

Cheers,

Chuck Shields
[log in to unmask]
17 Oakland Avenue
Ottawa, Ontario
K1S 2T1
Tel. 613-232-6708
FAX 613-232-0038



-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask]
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, June 10, 2003 12:02 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: PROCOR: A Call for Ideas for Grand Challenges in Global Health


Dear Friends and Colleagues:

We are seeking ideas.  Specifically, we seek the help of the
international health research community in identifying the greatest
scientific and technological challenges in global health-the principal
current challenges standing in the way of major progress.  The Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation has committed $200 million to establish the
Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative as a major new effort in
partnership with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Foundation
for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH).  Our aim is to identify 10 to
15 critical scientific and/or technical challenges, which, if solved, could
lead to important advances against diseases and improve health in the
developing world.

This Call for Ideas is a call for your recommendations, and is the
first step in a novel two-phase approach.  Between now and June 15, we
are asking health researchers around the world to submit their ideas on what
they consider to be the scientific Grand Challenges in Global Health at this
time.   The Scientific Board that I chair will then review the submissions
and select the 10 to 15 most compelling challenges as official Grand
Challenges for the initiative.  These Grand Challenges will be announced
this fall, and solicitations for research grant proposals to address them
will follow.

Our Web site, www.grandchallengesgh.org, provides a working definition of
what we mean by "grand challenges," details on the Call for
Ideas, instructions for submitting recommendations, an electronic
submission form and a list of the Scientific Board members.  Researchers who
do not have  access to the Web may send an e-mail message to
[log in to unmask], specifying whether they can receive a PDF
file or want the information faxed to a specific number.

Submission of ideas through the Web site is preferred, but those
unable to use this form of submission may e-mail their responses to
[log in to unmask] or fax them to 1-301-480-2752.
Please read the Call for Ideas material carefully and follow the recommended
format for submission.

We welcome your interest in this significant new initiative, and
encourage you to distribute this e-mail to other research colleagues
around the world who may have ideas to contribute.

Responses are due by June 15, 2003.

Sincerely,

Harold E. Varmus, M.D.
Chairman
Scientific Board
Grand Challenges in Global Health


Helen Burnett
Grand Challenges in Global Health
Foundation for the National Institutes of Health
1 Cloister Court
Suite 152
Bethesda, MD  20814
310-402-4970
[log in to unmask]


DEFINITION

What is a Grand Challenge?

A Grand Challenge is a call for a specific scientific or
technological innovation that would remove a critical barrier to solving an
important health problem in the developing world with a high likelihood of
global impact and feasibility.

A Grand Challenge is neither the statement of the global health
problem itself (e.g., malaria or AIDS) nor the request for a specific
health intervention (e.g., a drug or vaccine), but the call for a
discrete scientific or technological innovation which will break through
the roadblock that stands between where we are now and where we would
like to be in science, medicine, and public health.

For example, a Grand Challenge could be the discovery or creation of:
*A novel way to neutralize HIV that may be the critical limiting
step in developing a preventive vaccine
*An innovative technology that provided a fundamentally distinct
platform to achieve point-of-care, accurate and affordable diagnostics
*A viable method to alter mosquito behavior, control mosquito
populations or make mosquitos inhospitable to disease organisms
*A definitive way to stabilize antigens to heat to avoid the
"cold chain" for vaccines

SCOPE

What is the scope of the Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative?
The Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative will address the
diseases and health conditions that cause the greatest morbidity and
mortality in the developing world, thus accounting for the enormous health
disparities between the developing and the developed world, and that receive
disproportionately less attention from the scientific and
technical community than their consequences demand.

The scope of the ultimate goals of the Grand Challenges in Global
Health initiative is broad, encompassing prevention, detection,
diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, and surveillance and control of
diseases. The wide range of possible disciplines to be employed includes,
but is not limited to, immunology and microbiology, genetics, molecular and
cellular biology, entomology, agricultural sciences, clinical sciences,
epidemiology, population and behavioral sciences, ecology and evolutionary
biology. Any scientific approach that has the potential to address a Grand
Challenge in a novel and potentially powerful way might be supported by the
initiative.


© 2003, Grand Challenges in Global Health, All Rights Reserved.
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