PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Sen. Jack Reed, Providence Mayor David Cicilline, and Roger Glass, M.D., director of the Fogarty International Center (NIH), will visit the Brown University campus Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2008, to mark the 40th anniversary of the NIH’s John E. Fogarty International Center, one of the world’s leading agencies in support of the global health community. The Fogarty Center, named for the longtime Rhode Island congressman, has funded a number of global health research efforts in New England, including the Brown/Tufts/Lifespan Fogarty (NIH) AIDS International Research and Training Program.
Reed will also announce a new research award that will support the work of a community of global health professionals from a variety of professional disciplines, perspectives and approaches.
Reed, Cicilline, and Glass will join Brown administrators, physicians and researchers at a press conference at noon, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2008, in Maddock Alumni Center on the Brown campus.
“Since its inception, the Fogarty Center has encouraged a forward-thinking, multidisciplinary approach to addressing health problems across the globe,” said Brown Provost David Kertzer, who will host the anniversary session. “Fogarty Center grants have made possible important work at Brown and elsewhere toward addressing some of the most important health problems facing the people of the poorer countries of the world.”
The Fogarty Center
On July 1, 1968, President Lyndon Johnson established the John E. Fogarty International Center for Advanced Study in the Health Sciences at the National Institutes of Health. Fogarty, a 27-year veteran of Congress, was a staunch advocate for funding medical research through the NIH and a strong, persistent champion of improving human health around the world. He had called repeatedly for the establishment of an organization that would address global health issues. His death of a heart attack at his desk in Washington provided the catalyst for creation of just such a center.
The Fogarty Center is the international component of the NIH. It addresses the global health challenges through innovative and collaborative research and training programs and supports and advances the NIH mission through international partnerships. Since its formation, Fogarty has served as a bridge between the NIH and the greater global health community, facilitating exchanges among investigators, providing training opportunities and underwriting promising research initiatives in low- and middle-income countries. Fogarty funds about 400 research and training projects involving more than 100 U.S. universities. The U.S. scientists, in turn, collaborate with colleagues in over 100 foreign countries, most of them in the developing world. The range of research is broad: from the genetic basis of disease and the fundamental properties of the cell, to strategies to prevent transmission of HIV.
John E. Fogarty
John Edward Fogarty was born in Providence on March 23, 1913. He attended La Salle Academy and Providence College, then apprenticed as a bricklayer in 1930. He moved to Harmony, R.I., where he worked as a bricklayer and became active in politics and union affairs, ultimately serving as president of Bricklayers Union No. 1 of Rhode Island.
Fogarty was elected to Congress as a Democrat, beginning his service on Jan. 3, 1941 and serving in the 77th and 78th Congresses. He resigned on Dec. 7, 1944, to enlist in the U.S. Navy. He was re-elected to the 79th Congress and to the 11 succeeding Congresses, serving until his death in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 10, 1967.
News Advisory: Press Conference
Who:
U.S. Sen. Jack Reed
David Cicilline, mayor of Providence
Roger Glass, M.D., director of the Fogarty Center
David Kertzer, provost of Brown University
Edward Wing, M.D., dean of medicine and biological sciences
Susan Cu-Uvin, M.D., professor of obstetrics and gynecology and professor of medicine
Steve McGarvey, professor of community health and anthropology and director of the Brown International Health Institute
Kenneth Mayer, M.D., professor of medicineWhat:
Press conference to mark the 40th anniversary of the Fogarty International Center of the NIH and to announce a new Fogarty research award to Brown investigators.
When/Where:
Noon Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2008
Maddock Alumni Center, 38 Brown Street (corner of Brown and George Streets)