WASHINGTON, July 14 — The Milken Institute, a nonpartisan, nonprofit economic think tank, today announced that its latest initiative, the Center for Accelerating Medical Solutions, has named Gregory C. Simon as President of the Center. Simon will head a staff based in Washington, D.C.
Established this spring with a board of directors comprised of Nobel laureates in economics and medicine as well as distinguished leaders of health care, business and journalistic groups, CAMS is an independent, nonpartisan organization that will examine the entire medical research process. It will seek ways to shorten the path to cures and improved treatment outcomes for the most deadly and debilitating diseases that create staggering national costs for treatment as well as untold suffering, lost productivity and mortality.
The Center will not conduct scientific or clinical medical research. Rather, it will mobilize economists, medical researchers, clinicians, biologists, ethicists, genomics specialists, chemists, physicists, mathematicians, computer scientists, patient advocates, legislative analysts and others to evaluate the entire research process, publish concrete policy recommendations, and provide leadership for their implementation. Through a rigorous and thorough systems analysis of the research process, CAMS will point to new efficiencies that can accelerate scientific discovery. The Center will propose changes in misplaced priorities, sometimes inefficient regulations, and conflicting incentives that slow progress on finding treatments and cures.
"Greg Simon is the perfect person to lead CAMS," said Michael L. Klowden, President and CEO of the Milken Institute. "He is passionate about the need to improve our medical discovery process, and he has a tremendous knowledge of the issues and the people involved in the concerns that the Center will address."
Simon joins CAMS after being a Principal at Infotech Strategies, a Washington, D.C. consulting firm with special expertise in health technology, biotech, education technology and communication technology. Prior to that, he was CEO of Simon Strategies/Mindbeam, a consulting firm focused on clients in biotechnology, health care and information technology among other issues.
Simon was the chief domestic advisor to Vice President Al Gore from 1993 to 1997, specifically on economic, science and technology issues. He oversaw a number of initiatives, including the programs of the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, Federal Drug Administration and the Human Genome Project, and the development of the regulatory framework for biotechnology products.
He played a leading role in a variety of White House policies and programs, including passage of the Telecommunications Reform Act of 1996; encouraging the development a V-chip-compatible system of television ratings; the space program, particularly the building of the International Space Station; and FDA reform.
Prior to work in the White House, Simon served on Gore′s Senate staff as legislative director, and as staff director of the Investigations Subcommittee of the House of Representatives′ Science, Space and Technology Committee.
Simon received his bachelor′s degree from the University of Arkansas and his law degree from the University of Washington. He lives in Bethesda, Md., with his wife, Margo Reid, a documentary film producer, and their two children.
"This is a noble and inspiring challenge," Simon said. "We will call on the brightest minds in an urgent effort to accelerate progress against diseases that cause widespread suffering and shorten the lives of millions of people worldwide."
CAMS will have its own offices and operate independently, though under the auspices of the Milken Institute, an economic think tank whose mission is to improve the lives of people throughout the world through research on crucial public policy issues.
For more information on CAMS, see www.fastercures.org. An article by CAMS board chairman Michael Milken appears on the editorial page of today′s Wall Street Journal.
EDITORS: The CAMS Board of Directors includes:
- David Baltimore, Ph.D., President, California Institute of Technology, and Nobel Laureate, Medicine
- Robert Bartley, Editor Emeritus, The Wall Street Journal; winner, Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing
- Ernest Bates, M.D., Chairman, American Shared Hospital Services; Vice Chairman, Board of Trustees, Johns Hopkins University
- Gary Becker, Ph.D., Professor, Economics and Sociology, University of Chicago; Nobel Laureate, Economics
- Gerald Levey, M.D., Provost, Medical Sciences, and Dean, UCLA School of Medicine
- Peter May, President and Chief Operating Officer, Triarc Companies, Inc., and Chairman of the Board, Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York
- Shmuel Meitar, Director, Aurec Group
- Richard Merkin, M.D., Chief Executive Officer, Heritage Provider Network
- Michael Milken, Chairman, Milken Institute
- Michael L. Klowden, President and CEO, Milken Institute (ex-officio)