This is
now the
third annual award to honor significant research contributing to an
understanding of the factors that determine the impact of biomedical
research. On the two previous occasions
of this award ceremony, I had the pleasure and privilege of commenting
briefly
when introducing both David Meltzer of the University of Chicago and
then David
Cutler of Harvard. On the latter
occasion, we not only heard from David but also one of his former
medical
economist collaborators Mark McClellan, then the Director of the FDA
and now
the Administrator for Medicare and Medicaid services.
I was asked to
say
something today on the historic origins of this award which can be
traced back
25 years to the pioneering work of physicians Julius Comroe and Robert
Dripps
as well as the economist Ed Mansfield at the University of Pennsylvania. Since my earlier remarks are recorded on
my
website I refer you there for the sake of brevity.1
The members of the Award Committee are well aware that proving the economic impact of basic research is not a simple task. What indeed do we mean by economic impact? Is it simply growth in GNP? Is it growth in well being? Or, as recently expressed in the American Scientist, is it growth in Gross National Happiness?2
Psychologists
Ed
Diener (University of Illinois) and Martin Seligman (University of
Pennsylvania) have published on this recently in Psychological
Science in the
Public Interest and argue that “well being should become a primary
focus of
policy makers and its rigorous measurement
as a
primary policy imperative.”
3 They
define well being as people’s positive
evaluations of their lives and includes emotion, engagement,
satisfaction, and
meaning.”
Sherry
Glied has worked in a variety of fields that are related to several
indicators
of economic impact as well as well being.
How do you measure the worth of a child? And what is the value of
reducing child mortality due to
injuries. Thank goodness someone has
looked at this problem and gives us another perspective on the value of
biomedical
and epidemiological research.
1.
http://garfield.library.upenn.edu/researchamerica/award.html
2. Esty, A. "The New Wealth of Nations," American Scientist 92(6):513 (Nov-Dec 2004)
3. Diener E and
Seligman MEP. "Beyond Money. Toward an Economy of
Well-Being,"Psychological
Science in the Public Interest 5(1): 1-31 (2004)