A Review of the Department of Defense's Program for Breast Cancer Research (1997)

As you know, Congress has allocated well over $400 million to the Department of Defense (DOD) since 1993 and designated the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command to oversee the Breast Cancer Research Program. This program is currently being reviewed and evaluated by an independent scientific committee appointed by the Institute of Medicine (IOM). An important part of this process is gathering information about scientists' experiences as grant applicants and, subsequently, as grantees.

We are inviting you to comment on the DOD's implementation of this grant program. Please feel free to comment on: (1) specific aspects of the program (e.g., procedures for proposal submission, peer review, budgetary review and tracking, protection of study participants, and project oversight), and (2) the program overall. Please submit your comments anonymously. For your convenience, we have provided a return label.

The grantees' perspective will play an important part in the committee's deliberations. Please limit your comments to two pages. Because of the short time frame for this study, we need to receive your responses no later than November 1, 1996. We encourage you to fax your response to 202-334-2316.

We appreciate you cooperation.