The Specified Appropriations Program (SAP) was initiated in FY99 to manage Congressional appropriations to the Department of Defense (DOD) in specified topic areas. The SAP is executed by the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command’s (USAMRMC’s) office of the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP). To ensure that government funds are spent on the highest quality science, SAP proposals are subject to the rigorous external review procedures that are characteristic of the other programs managed by the CDMRP. SAP proposals are externally peer reviewed for scientific merit and are subsequently reviewed for programmatic relevance.

The FY99 SAP includes two specified topic areas: Advanced Cancer Detection (ACD) and Diagnostic and Surgical Breast Imaging (DSBI) (see Funding History). Congress appropriated $3.5M for ACD and $2.0M for DSBI in FY99.

In FY99, Congress appropriated $5.5M for research in specified topic areas. Table B-5 in Appendix B summarizes the directions from Congress for the SAP appropriation, the program’s withholds and management costs, and the investment strategy executed by the program. Prior to receipt of funds by the CDMRP, Congress and the DOD withhold funds for designated initiatives. In addition, the CDMRP sets aside funds for program development, scientific peer review, programmatic review, and the administration of grants/contracts through the entire period of performance up to 7 years (see Appendix B). The investment strategy executed is consistent with Congressional language and reflects the program’s vision.

The mission of the SAP is to fund outstanding research that will address topic areas specified by Congress. In FY99, the Congressionally specified topic areas were ACD and DSBI.

——FY99 Program

All FY99 SAP research proposals were evaluated for scientific merit by external peer review in June 1999. Proposals were subsequently programmatically reviewed in July 1999.

——Advanced Cancer Detection

The ACD research category was initiated in FY97 when Congress awarded $3.5M to the DOD Naval Medical Research and Development Command to establish an Advanced Cancer Detection Center at the University of South Florida’s H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute. Funds were used to create the infrastructure to link the Moffitt Cancer Center and its programs to military personnel, dependents, and retired service members in order to conduct coordinated screening for cancer detection and treatment, train military cancer specialists, and develop improved cancer detection equipment and technology. Additional services have been provided by a computer communications network that links the participating sites with the Moffitt Cancer Center. Those sites include MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida; Humana, the regional TRICARE provider; Department of Veterans Affairs James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital in Tampa, Florida; Bay Pines Veterans’ Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida; and Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida.

The ACD research category was continued in FY98 with an additional $3.5M Congressional appropriation to the Moffitt Cancer Center. In FY99, Congress appropriated $3.5M for "advanced cancer detection." A Program Announcement was released 24 March 1999 to solicit applications for the $3.5M appropriation. After an external peer and programmatic review, 3 of the 10 ACD submissions were recommended for funding (totaling a $1.2M investment). Two of the ACD submissions were recommended for 1 year of funding. These two awardees will be able to re-submit more detailed proposals in May 2000 to determine if they will receive additional funding.

——Diagnostic and Surgical Breast Imaging

The DSBI research category received $2.0M from Congress in FY99. Neither of the two submissions to the DSBI research category of the FY99 SAP was recommended for funding by peer or programmatic review. The $2M DSBI appropriation was re-advertised in a Program Announcement that was released 23 August 1999.

Chair, Carl M. Mansfield, M.D., D.Sc.: Chairman and Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Maryland. Discipline(s): Radiation Oncology.

John J. Cuddy, D.D.S., MG (USA Ret.): Dental Director, Dental Associates, Ltd. Discipline(s): Consumer.

Francesco DeMayo, Ph.D.: Associate Professor, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Baylor College of Medicine. Discipline(s): Lung Cancer/Animal Models/Gene Expression.

Maryellen L. Giger, Ph.D.: Professor, Department of Radiology, University of Chicago. Discipline(s): Computer-aided Diagnosis/Digital Radiology.

Andrew Karellas, Ph.D.: Director, Radiological Physics, University of Massachusetts Medical Center. Discipline(s): Radiological Imaging/Physics.