DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE
PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE

 

NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
BETHESDA, MD. 20014
AREA CODE 301 TEL: 656-4000

March 25, 1969

Dr. Joshua Lederberg

Stanford University School of Medicine
Stanford Medical Center

Palo Alto, California 94304

Dear Dr. Lederberg:

I am writing primarily about two matters and let me quickly dispense
with the first and least important one. I am in the middle of the much
hated, but apparently absolutely necessary, annual report and I would like
to ask you if you have made any progress with the macrosomia study, or have
anything worth saying about it, so that I could include it sin the report.

The second and more important matter concerns the analysis of the
Collaborative Study data. Although the collection of all the data will not
be completed until 1973, all the study children have been born and by the
end of this year will all have passed the four year milestone. One fourth
of the study children are now seven years old and have gone through the
seven year battery of tests, which constitutesthe graduation exercises, so
to speake I am very anxious at this time to develop a master plan for com
prehensive analysis of the genetic and socioeconomic material collected in
the study, for which I am responsible. None of the collaborating institutions
have trained geneticists or sociologists to participate in the analysis of
the data. My own staff here consists of only three professionals and the
number of projects that we can develop is limited not only by the limited
staff but also by our own interests and capabilities. This material is vast
and rich. It has cost many millions of dollars to collect and it deserves
thorough analysis according to a well designed, comprehensive plan.

I thought that the best way to accomplish this would be to establish a
panel of interested people familiar with the project, and also with ways of
dealing with masses of data, to help in the development of such a plan, and
also to oversee its implementation. I know that you are already heavily
committed to a variety of tasks, but I hope that you will find some time to
serve on such a panel and give us the benefit of your advie¢e and guidance.
I plan to ask for the help of some of our senior people such as Jim Crow
and also of some of the younger geneticists who have the talent and the ex-
perience, such as C. S. Chung and Dick Richardson. Jack Schull, who served
as consultant to this project more than ten years ago, has already promised
his help.

I thought that we might have an initial meeting here in Bethesda, perhaps
in late May, to study the problem and set initial guidelines.

T would very much appreciate having your thoughts in this matter.

Yours sincerely,

 

Ntinos C. Myrianthopoulos, Ph.D.

Head, Section on Epidemiology and
Genetics

Perinatal Research Branch

National Institute of Neurological
Diseases and Stroke