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- There has been a long-standing history of collaboration in cancer research that dates back to the early 1960’s. U.S. –French collaboration on clinical drug development has resulted in greatly reducing the time required to evaluate new anti-cancer drugs. The National Cancer Institute of France and the NIH have a program designed to train the next generation of cancer researchers and to foster enduring relationships between cancer researchers in France and the United States.
- Cooperation in treating infectious disease dates back to the Spanish influenza pandemic of 1918-1919. Medical researchers in France and Germany made important discoveries in developing germ theory. Figures such as Louis Pasteur made remarkable discoveries regarding the cause of diseases, developing vaccines, and even in some cases curing diseases. Their discoveries were incorporated into the most progressive U.S. Medical centers and enabled U.S. researchers to treat the U.S. military soldiers that caught the Spanish influenza. We had a recent success in our bilateral cooperation in vaccine development when France agreed to evaluate an experimental Chikungunya vaccine developed by U.S. Department of Defense. (Chikungunya is a flu like mosquito-borne illness). NIH continues to be interested in working in the future with French researchers on emerging infectious diseases and vaccine development, as well as nanotechnology, and the social and behavioral sciences, including aging, drug and alcohol abuse and mental health prevention and treatments. In the multilateral arena, the Human Frontiers Science Program, a multilateral program that supports bioMedical workshops, research and fellowships, in which the U.S. participates, is based in Strasbourg, France.
- The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has been cooperating with IFREMER (Institute Francais de Recherche Pour L’Exploitation De la Mer) for over a decade. Collaboration dates back to the 1970s when the two agencies signed of a letter of intent. This cooperation was reinvigorated by a High-Level Ocean Science Workshop held in Brest, France in June of 2006. Last week, NOAA and IFREMER signed a Memorandum of Understanding to cooperate more extensively to address the environmental and societal issues of concern to both countries associated with the oceanic and atmospheric sciences. They plan to work together to improve our understanding of ocean-related processes in the areas of climate, marine ecosystems and ocean exploration.
- One of its key roles of my office is to negotiate and manage bilateral S&T Agreements. We have just concluded negotiating the first bilateral S&T Agreement between the Government of the United States of America and the Republic of France and we are currently making the arrangements to sign this Agreement. (This is distinct from the Agreement that NASA and CNES signed in 2007 with France for cooperation in space research). The Agreement is designed to strengthen and broaden our strong scientific cooperation. Coordinating such activities under an umbrella science and technology (S&T) agreement will facilitate both the initiation and implementation of future activities pursued between French and American scientists. The Agreement facilitates U.S.-French research cooperation by creating a framework for both individual scientists and research institutions to conduct joint research. Under the Agreement, each side alternates hosting a Joint Consultative Group meeting which brings together officials from the U.S. and France to discuss successful areas of ongoing cooperation activities as well as potential areas for future research. The various U.S. agencies that fund bilateral scientific research represent the U.S. -- these include the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Agriculture, the United States Geological Survey, the Department of Energy, the National Institutes of Standards and Technology, and the Department of Transportation.
- Another development that I wanted to briefly mention is that a group of U.S. and French universities are currently negotiating to develop a doctoral network. The goal would be to have candidates obtain joint degrees from a French and American University. The plan now is to focus initially on energy and development topics but it may expand to a broader range of scientific research topics.
- Finally, on the topic of education, the EU, France, Sweden, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, along with NSF, the U.S. Department of Education, the State Department, the State of Georgia, and the Georgia institute of Technology are sponsoring a Workshop on the Internationalization of Research and Graduate Studies and its Implications in the Transatlantic Context that will be held in Atlanta, Georgia this coming November.
- I have tried to highlight some of the activities between French and US researchers. William Barry will give you an overview now of NASA cooperation with France.
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