State Has Too Much Invested In Alzheimer's Center To Kill It
It should come as no surprise that just a few months after the Johnnie B. Byrd Sr. Alzheimer's Institute and Research Center beat back attempts by lawmakers to cut its budget in half that its finances are again threatened.
With less than a month before the Legislature gathers in special session to cut some $1.4 billion from the state's $71 billion budget the future of the independent institute on the campus of the University of South Florida is again up in the air.
The center could lose up to two-thirds of its state funding - that's $10 million of $15 million originally allocated by lawmakers. Gov. Charlie Crist ordered the Department of Elder Affairs to trim $20 million from its budget, and the Alzheimer's center's earmark is a tempting target.
But Florida has already invested some $70 million on the center's research programs and a new seven-story building at USF. With taxpayers having shelled out millions on the up-and-coming center of excellence, it would be an obscenity to abandon the effort now.
Elder affairs officials argue that services that immediately benefit seniors such as delivering meals at home must take priority over research. That's shortsighted.
Alzheimer's disease afflicts nearly 500,000 Floridians and affects thousands of caregivers and family members across the state. With most of those people over age 65 and the state facing a growing aging population, research into slowing the disease or finding a cure is not only humane but economically desirable.
Huntington Potter, a physician and the center's chief executive officer, says a $10 million cut would destroy the institute. He says research under way would come to an end, layoffs would ensue and the loss of funding could jeopardize the center's federal funding. A National Institutes of Health grant was awarded to the Byrd center after researchers from all over Florida agreed to work together and the state backed the effort.
But what scientist from a major research university or private industry is going to come to the institute when the state is ready to pull the rug out from under the program? With research money tied each year to a political free-for-all, the center will have a hard time attracting leading researchers whose work, and ability to draw funding, builds from year to year.
Moreover, lawmakers have reason to want to know how the center is spending the state's money. While research paid for by the NIH grant is peer reviewed by scientists with no stake in the outcome, there is no such requirement for the state-funded research. There should be.
Other institutes - Scripps, the Mayo Clinic and the Roskamp Institute in Sarasota - have proven track records in Alzheimer's research and have no trouble attracting scientists.
Each time the Byrd center is faced with a budget crisis the question arises whether unpopular former House Speaker Johnnie Byrd Jr. is the problem. Byrd pushed through the legislation creating the institute as a way to honor his father, who died of Alzheimer's. We have suggested before that the board should change the name of the institute because Byrd is such a lightning rod.
But Byrd doesn't appear to be the problem this time. Rather, the elder affairs department is looking for an easy way to cut its budget, and the Byrd Institute represents a big number.
The center might be better protected from the annual budget battles if it foreswore its independence and became part of USF. The university already has scientists who are doing great work in Alzheimer's research and would be a natural fit for the Byrd center.
The institute was modeled after the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute - free of university control. But Moffitt makes money treating cancer patients and through high-revenue procedures. Even if the Byrd center is successful developing new memory disorder programs, it is unlikely to generate the revenue Moffitt does.
Regardless, the state's investment in the Byrd center has been a notable one, and lawmakers should not sabotage this noble effort to find a cure for a terrible disease that touches virtually very family. The Byrd Institute's funding should be maintained.
Photo credit: Associated Press photo
Photo: The Department of Elder Affairs' proposal to cut the budget of the Johnnie B. Byrd Sr. Alzheimer's Center by two-thirds is short-sighted.
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