Dr. Order
[stamped, JAN 12 1981]
NCI-PCP
New Research
Thank you for your letter of Dec. 31
Dr. deVita is, I believe fully sympathetic with our concerns. As soon as he can pull his organizational frame together, we will try to work out a realistic review of action possibilities.
Unfortunately a lot of "minor cogs" in HHS have ground to a halt pending the presidential transition (the most minor perhaps being the composition of the Cancer Panel) -- and it may be 2 or 3 months before much of a push can be mounted.
Have you thought how to recognize and define "new research"? Should we suggest much of anything else [symbol]? (as you mean something other than new investigators) [symbol] of course yes; but no one will deny innovation in his work in principle -- he just doesn't dare expose it in his written application!
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Just how to handle the traffic is a real problem -- the present system is a bureaucratic nightmare
Sincerely,
Joshua Lederberg