Washington DC—The George Washington University is a part a Middle Atlantic consortium named by Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson as a Regional Center for Excellence (RCE) in Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases (RCE). Thompson is funding 8 RCEs with grants totaling $350 million over 5 years. This nationwide group of multidisciplinary centers is a key element in HHS' strategic plan for biodefense research. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a part of HHS' National Institutes of Health, is providing the grants and will administer the RCE program. A total of $45 million dollars will go to the 60 scientists participating in this Middle Atlantic RCE.

"We have moved with unprecedented speed and determination to prepare for a bioterror attack or any other public health crisis since the terrorist attacks of 2001," Secretary Thompson said. "These new grants add to this effort and will not only better prepare us for a bioterrorism attack, but will also enhance our ability to deal with any public health crisis, such as SARS and West Nile virus."

GW is in the RCE that includes the University of Maryland School of Medicine as the lead institution, along with participating institutions Johns Hopkins University, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Virginia, the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Virginia Bioinformatics Institute, the University of Pittsburgh, Georgetown University, West Virginia University, Drexel University, the University of Vermont, the University of Missouri-Kansas City, the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute and Virginia Commonwealth University.

Funding for GW covers two project areas, according to Dr. Peter Hotez, chair of the Department of Microbiology and Tropical Medicine. “We will be doing media training for biodefense scientists and will also have a role in developing DNA vaccines for the disease tularemia.” For the media training, Dr. Hotez and his department will work with GW’s School of Media and Public Affairs and the Center for Emergency Preparedness. Jean Folkerts, Associate Vice President for Special Academic Initiatives and Professor of Media and Public Affairs is principal investigator on the project along with Dr. Hotez. Dr. Milcho Mincheff of the Department will head up the vaccine development project.

“The anthrax scare brought out the need for trained spokespeople in the field to be in the media spotlight,” said Folkerts. “ This training will enable bioscientists to translate complicated information for media dissemination in a way that will be informative and reassuring to the public"

“There is important work to be done to ensure the preparedness for our region, and GW is happy to be a part of this effort,” commented Frank Cilluffo, Associate Vice President for Homeland Security. “This funding addresses a real gap and will connect the research with real solutions.”

“Since the terrorist attacks on American soil in 2001, NIAID has moved rapidly to bolster basic biomedical research and the development of countermeasures to defend the United States against deliberately released agents of bioterrorism as well as naturally occurring infectious diseases," said Anthony S. Fauci, MD, NIAID director. "The new RCE program provides a coordinated and comprehensive mechanism to support the interdisciplinary research that will lead to new and improved therapies, vaccines, diagnostics and other tools to protect the citizens of our country and the world against the threat of bioterrorism and other emerging and re-emerging diseases."

The RCE program's primary role is to foster the physical and intellectual environments in which wide-ranging research on infectious diseases can proceed productively and safely. All RCEs will:

• Support investigator-directed research
  
• Train researchers and other personnel for biodefense research activities
  
• Create and maintain supporting resources, including scientific equipment and trained support personnel, for use by the RCEs and other researchers in the region
  
• Emphasize research focused on development and testing of vaccine, therapeutic and diagnostic concepts
  
• Make available core facilities to approved investigators from academia, government, biotech companies and the pharmaceutical industry
  
• Provide facilities and scientific support to first responders in the event of a national biodefense emergency

Being a part of this newly designated RCE is another homeland security initiative for GW. The GW Center for Emergency Preparedness is finishing a preparedness-training project with the DC. Department of Health and recently received a $5 million earmark to establish the Response to Emergencies and Disasters Institute (READI). In addition, via the Ronald Reagan Institute of Emergency Medicine, GW will be training DC citizens in emergency preparedness through the Citizen Corps Program.

For more information on all of GW’s homeland security experts and programs, please visit: www.homelandsecurity.gwu.edu or call 202-994-2437

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Posted: September 5, 2003