Good afternoon. Thank you for providing me with an opportunity to testify before the Committee. As Chief Scientific Officer and Senior Vice-President for Research at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Director of the Joseph Stokes, Jr. Research Institute, I appreciate the vision associated with the Jonas Salk Legacy Fund which may very well place Pennsylvania at the forefront of a national effort to cure disease and treat illnesses.

CHOP has long been dedicated to translating innovative research findings to outstanding patient care for children. With modest beginnings, our space requirements have grown from one room in the basement of a hospital to over 600,000 square feet spanning three facilities. A fourth facility at CHOP is under construction and that will add an additional 558,000 square feet. This facility will be home to our state-of-the-art translational research center that will enable our investigators to provide new treatments more efficiently and quickly to patients. This Center is encompassed within our West Philadelphia campus, which is undergoing a $2.6 billion expansion -- one of the largest ongoing construction projects in Pennsylvania.

Specifically, Philadelphia is ripe for investment in biotechnology. The Jonas Salk Legacy Fund presents an unprecedented opportunity for the Commonwealth to attract and grow the pool of talent necessary to build upon some of the City’s already established programs. We know that excellence in research is achieved in partnership with the public sector, which provides institutions like our own Stokes Institute with much needed resources that facilitate the advance of medical breakthroughs. With an annual research budget of nearly $200 million, CHOP ranks third in the amount of funding received from the National Institutes of Health among U.S. pediatric hospitals and seventh among independent hospitals in the country. However, we solemnly recognize that budget constraints at all levels of government have forced institutions, including CHOP, to consider limiting growth while not sacrificing patient care. Accordingly, we continue to identify and seek available public funding, while leveraging those funds with private resources, so that we may explore the potential of new research ventures.

There is tremendous promise in pediatric research, but it requires extensive, expert human capital and world-class facilities, coupled with an appetite for risk and the relentless pursuit of success. The Jonas Salk Legacy Fund will provide the tools we need to achieve the success we strive for -- advancing the health of children by turning scientific discovery into medical innovation.

By supporting laboratory construction and faculty recruitment, proceeds from the Fund would help us pioneer new therapies, integrate novel technologies, and tackle the toughest healthcare issues that face our patients and their families.

In addition to advancing research, the Jonas Salk Legacy Fund will support efforts to expand the Commonwealth’s economy through public and private investment in an emerging and rapidly growing field, where job growth has significantly increased by 42 percent from 1999 to 2004. Our own growth at CHOP has led us to become a major economic catalyst in Southeast Pennsylvania and one of Pennsylvania’s largest employers with over 9,000 employees throughout our pediatric healthcare network. Our direct spending -- the amount we spend on all Hospital operations, including wages and materials -- totaled $912.5 million in 2006, with an additional $141.4 million spent on capital expenditures related to our expansion. I cite these figures because they prove that by investing in healthcare, the Commonwealth is not only improving the health of Pennsylvanians; it is creating jobs that contribute widely to the success of our renowned hospitals and opportunities that will emerge from the commercialization of products that may generate substantial income for years to come.

The Jonas Salk Legacy Fund will help Pennsylvanians, and perhaps citizens from throughout the world, benefit from accelerated, breakthrough research taking place in Pennsylvania-based laboratories.

As The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia has developed vaccines for mumps, whooping cough, influenza and, more recently, rotavirus, I am sure that this terrific initiative will help CHOP -- and our colleagues throughout the Commonwealth -- do so much more to help prevent and treat illness and disease. With your support, the Jonas Salk Legacy Fund will help us revolutionize the future of healthcare through a concerted effort to advance quality research from the bench to the bedside.