The metabolism service

The Metabolism Branch, originally the Metabolism Service, created by Mider and Zubrod largely in the image that Mider had projected, has had two leaders: Berlin (1956-1971) and Waldmann (1971-present). The original design of a comparatively small senior staff of five Senior Investigators and 10 Clinical Associates (fellows), together with an 11-bed patient care unit in close proximity to the offices and laboratories, has in essence continued to the present with a comparatively small expansion under Waldmann. This unit has served as a training ground. Among its present members and alumni there are 18 members of the Association of American Physicians (AAP) and 22 members of the American Society of Clinical Investigation (ASCI). In 1994, two of the presidents of the clinical research societies, Rosenberg of the AAP and Berzofsky of the ASCI, are from the Service's ranks. This model, some would say paradigm, for the organization and function of clinical research units could be an answer to what Ahrens has called a crisis. The Metabolism Branch had the benefit of strong leadership from the NCI, particularly Endicott, The Director in the 1960s, and Mider and Zubrod, the Scientific Directors. There can be no doubt that the Branch benefited substantially, some would say enormously, from the doctor draft of the 1950s and 1960s and from the funding of the intramural research program as an integral part of the funding of each of the National Institutes.