Statement by the President on the Proposed International Center for Advanced Study in the Health Sciences.

IN MY message to Congress in February on health and education, I announced my intention to seek funds to establish at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., an International Center for Advanced Study in the Health Sciences.

Today I am submitting to Congress an amendment to the 1968 budget, requesting $500,000 to finance architectural studies and plans for the Center's facilities. The facility will cost an estimated $4 to $5 million.

The basic objective of the Center will be to advance medical research and knowledge worldwide. When fully operative, the Center will enable 30 distinguished scholars at a time to spend periods of 1 to 2 years of work at the Institutes concentrating on important areas of progress in health.

In addition to a continuing program of international conferences and seminars, two special fellowship programs would operate through the Center: (1) professorships supporting the international exchange of outstanding teachers and health scientists; (2) grants supporting the training of promising foreign scientists in U.S. laboratories, health agencies, and universities.

By the 1970's, the full program of the Center, including scholarships, stipends, and travel awards, will cost an estimated $12 million annually--including $1.2 million now spent each year for exchange programs of the Institutes.