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> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>
> January 23, 2002

####### VA Creates Gulf War Advisory Committee

> WASHINGTON -- Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony J. Principi today
> announced a new advisory committee that will help the Department of
> Veterans Affairs (VA) oversee its research into the medical problems
> of Gulf War veterans.
>
> \"Gulf War veterans have waited too long for answers to many of their
> questions,\" Principi said. \"This committee, composed of medical
> experts and veterans, will focus on the research that we hope will
> improve the health of ill Gulf War veterans.\"
>
> The 12-member Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans\'
> Illnesses was established by Congress to advise the VA secretary on
> proposed research studies.
>
> The panel must submit an annual report on the status and results of
> government research during the previous year and on research
> priorities identified by the committee.
>
> The group\'s charter, established by Section 104 of Public Law
> 105-368, which was signed Nov. 11, 1998, says the panel shall
> \"provide advice and make recommendations to the Secretary of Veterans
> Affairs on proposed research studies, research plans and research
> strategies relating to the health consequences of military service in
> the Southwest Asia theater of operations during the Persian Gulf
> War.\"
>
> Although the panel will not conduct research, its charter instructs
> the committee to review \"all relevant research, investigations, and
> processes\" done in the past to assess methods, results and
> implications for future research. The committee will also review
> proposed federal research plans, initiatives, procurements, grant
> programs and other activities regarding Gulf War-associated illnesses.
>
> **- More -**
>
> **Gulf War Committee 2/2/2/2**
>
> The committee will be led by James H. Binns Jr., a Vietnam veteran,
> former principal deputy assistant secretary of defense, and chairman
> of the board of Parallel Design, Inc., of Tempe, Arizona, acquired by
> General Electric in December 2000.
>
> The advisory committee will be assisted by an expert panel of
> scientists and subject matter authorities who will add additional
> expertise, functioning as an auxiliary that reviews committee findings
> and provides expert guidance to the committee and the Secretary.
>
> \# \# \#
>
> **Membership of**
>
> **Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans\' Illnesses**
>
> **And Expert Panel**
>
> **Advisory Committee:**

-   James H. Binns Jr., Chairman,

-   Dr. Nicola Cherry, Professor of Public Health Sciences at the
    University of Alberta,

-   Dr. Beatrice Golomb, assistant professor of medicine at the
    University of California at San Diego,

-   Dr. Robert Haley, chief of the epidemiology division of the
    University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas,

-   Marguerite Knox, nurse practitioner, Hopkins, S.C.,

-   Dr. William J. Meggs, chief of the division of toxicology of the
    East Carolina University School of Medicine,

-   Jack Melling, Ph.D., director of the Karl Landsteiner Institute for
    Vaccine Development in Vienna, Austria,

-   Dr. Pierre Pellier, vice president, neurosciences, global medical
    affairs, with GlaxoSmithKline, Inc.,

-   Lea Steele, Ph.D., senior health researcher with Kansas Health
    Institute and former epidemiologist with the U.S. Centers for
    Disease Control and Prevention,

-   Joel C. Graves, an Army Gulf War veteran fromWashington state,

-   Stephen L. Robinson, executive director of the National Gulf War
    > Resources Center; Silver Spring, Md.,

-   Steve Smithson, assistant director of the Gulf War Task Force for
    > the American Legion, Indianapolis, Ind.

######## The Expert Panel

-   Dr. Ira B. Black, chairman, department of neuroscience and cell
    biology at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway, N.J.,

> **- More -**
>
> **Membership 2/2/2/2**

-   Dr. Joseph T. Coyle, Eben S. Draper professor of psychiatry and
    neuroscience, Harvard Medical School, Belmont, Mass.,

-   Dr. Floyd E. Bloom, chair, department of neuropharmacology, Scripps
    Research Institute, La Jolla, Calif.,

-   Dr. Eugene Johnson, professor, department of neurology, Washington
    University, St. Louis, Mo.,

-   Dr. Marsel Mesulam, director, The Cognitative Neurology and
    Alzheimer\'s Disease Center, Northwestern University Medical School,
    Chicago,

-   James J. Tuite, III, chief operating officer, Chronix Biomedical,
    Inc., Benicia, Calif.,

-   Dr. Bailus Walker, Jr., professor of environmental and occupational
    medicine, Howard University, Washington, D.C.

> \# \# \#