Washington, D.C., April 26, 2005 — Jordan J. Cohen, M.D., president of the AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges), issued the following comments today on the release of a report by the National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine:

"The Committee on Guidelines for Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research, formed by the National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine, has issued a thoughtful report suggesting guidelines for institutional oversight of the nascent field of human embryonic stem cell research. President Bush's stem cell policy, announced in August 2001, vitiated earlier human embryonic stem cell research guidelines developed by a National Institutes of Health advisory panel, chaired by Dr. Shirley M. Tilghman.

The guidelines address the conduct of human embryonic stem cell research and sustain the historic delegation of primary oversight of research activities to local institutional panels that are best positioned to assess and monitor research conducted on their campuses. The report's careful integration of the responsibilities of the proposed institutional embryonic stem cell research oversight panel with those of the institutional review board and other university research oversight committees is commendable and should reassure the public that this contentious area of research will remain subject to critical and careful scrutiny.

Should the Administration's current, restrictive stem cell policy be modified, the panel's proposed guidelines will provide important guidance to the development of new federal research oversight policies covering all human embryonic stem cell research. Until that time, our medical schools and teaching hospitals should heed the panel's advice and act expeditiously to establish effective oversight of this vital and promising area of potentially life-saving research."

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The Association of American Medical Colleges is a not-for-profit association representing all 129 accredited U.S. and 17 accredited Canadian medical schools; nearly 400 major teaching hospitals and health systems, including 68 Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers; and 94 academic and scientific societies. Through these institutions and organizations, the AAMC represents 109,000 faculty members, 67,000 medical students, and 104,000 resident physicians. Additional information about the AAMC and U.S. medical schools and teaching hospitals is available at www.aamc.org/newsroom.

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