From Marla: Tulane Research Update

Facilities
Paul Whelton spoke recently with Earl Bihlmeyer about the Health
Sciences Campus facilities and reported that the JBJ building is in
good shape and now has functioning air-conditioning. The status of
the other buildings are "hopeful" but uncertain. The buildings will
be coming back on line in a staggered fashion with JBJ and Perdido
St. first, probably followed by Tidewater. We are trying to get
people in as quickly as possible while ensuring that we do not
compromise our ability to get the maximum recovery for losses. John
Clements said that he thinks that November 1 is still a good target
date for beginning to phase people into JBJ. On the uptown campus,
Gary McPherson said that there has been continuing progress. All of
the front campus is functional with electricity except for Stern and
Israel. He expects those to be up by the end of next week at the
latest. The buildings on the other side of Freret St. are not yet
ready.

Consultant Report
Robert Lang of UHY is a consultant who will be coordinating our
insurance claim process. He has worked with Baylor and NYU on
similar recovery processes. A small group, chaired by John Clements,
will be working with him. Scott Cowen has made a commitment that
anything that is recovered for research losses will be put back into
the research effort. UHY has developed a methodology and tools to
quantify the institution's losses, including investigator designed
tools. They will be scheduling meetings with our insurance carrier
in the next few days and will determine what the insurance company
will require from us. That will help us to know what can be thrown
out and what needs to be retained. The first priority is to get our
researchers back into their labs as quickly as possible. E-mail will
be sent out describing the process and Robert will be meeting with
researchers to document losses, discuss grant cycles, etc. We are
reminded that there is a lot of value in investigator derived
materials and researchers should be asking themselves how long it
would take to re-create those items. The methodology that will be
used in the damage assessment has been proven during the Baylor
recovery process. Most of our recovery will be from insurance. A
Research Recovery Scientific Advisory Committee (RRSAC) has been
formed to assist Robert in planning the process and will meet with
him on Monday. The RRSAC, which has representation from all of the
major research units, has the following members: Nicholas Altiero,
James Blanchard, John Clements (Chair), Jiang He, Laura Levy, Gary
McPherson, Paul Whelton.

Recovery from Buildings
John Clements said that he envisions being able to bring a select
group of investigators, based on priorities, back into JBJ around
Nov. 1. They will receive a briefing and there will be teams of
people to facilitate the process, particularly with respect to
disposal of chemicals, biologicals, etc., in order to ensure
compliance with insurance company requirements. We have stopped all
entries into the buildings for now because of damage that has already
been caused by people doing things like using bathrooms that resulted
in extensive flooding due to clogged valves. This will continue for
at least two weeks. We are now transferring priorities back to
recovery of the facilities.

Prioritizing Research Needs
We are in the process of prioritizing the needs of the research
community in order to get researchers into the available
space. Department Chairs have been asked to provide Laura Levy (with
copies to the appropriate Deans) with a prioritized list of
externally/federally funded researchers, brief descriptions of their
research, and specialized equipment needs. Likewise, researchers
with existing space in the JBJ building are being asked when they
will be ready to go back in and how many additional researchers they
can accommodate in their labs temporarily. Some Chairs have already
sent in excellent reports, but others have not. We need all of these
reports as soon as possible. Gary McPherson and Nick Altiero will be
working with department Chairs on the uptown campus.

Faculty Re-entry Needs
Paul Whelton said that the university leadership continues to work on
housing needs, and that it is likely that we will be signing a
contract for some cruise ships in the near future. They have also
done a lot of work looking for land based housing. It is important
to let people know that the university will not be paying for
housing. Space in Demming Hall is currently being used by the work
crews, and once they leave some will become available for faculty/staff
needs.

Other Items
Last week, Paul Whelton and Scott Cowen met with the Director of NIH,
Dr. Zerhouni. The meeting was a success and Drs. Whelton and Levy
are working on a white paper at NIH's request. Dr. Zerhouni is doing
everything possible under the existing NIH constraints to be
supportive. A similar process is underway at other federal funding
agencies. Scott Cowen chairs the Mayor's commission and President
Bush is likely to be supportive of their recommendations.

Dr. Levy reminds all researchers to be proactive in contacting their
program managers and program directors to communicate Tulane's
progress in the recovery. For an application pending review in the
current cycle, it is also important to send a statement to the Study
Section. A Tulane Facilities Statement has been posted on the
Interim Research Web Site and can be used for this purpose. There
has been some talk about whether New Orleans institutions will be
able to maintain their research momentum. The senior leadership at
NIH has expressed their amazement with the progress that Tulane has
made since the hurricane. However, their understanding of our
progress may not have trickled down to program directors and study
sections. Currently, most NIH institutes are cutting back because of
the budget situation (i.e. the Continuing Resolution
limitations). However, they are still encouraging researchers to
speak with their program directors about supplemental funding. Laura
Levy said that it is very important that whenever anyone receives
supplemental funding she be informed because it relates to the
insurance claim.


Marla Lampp
Tulane Cardiology Section Administrator
Landline Tel #985-674-0698
Cell Tel #913-620-1562
Fax #985-626-9918