Message to the Congress Transmitting 11th Annual Report of the Surgeon General.

To the Congress of the United States:

I am pleased to transmit the Eleventh Annual Report of the Surgeon General on the Health Research Facilities Program for 1966.

This program, which was inaugurated in 1956, has been a powerful and effective tool in our work toward improving the health of all Americans.

In the past ten years, nearly 1,400 matching grants--totalling about $400 million-have been made for the construction and renovation of research facilities in each of the 50 States.

In all, the program has stimulated the creation and strengthening of health research facilities costing almost $1 billion.

In 1966, many exciting new ventures were begun, and many others were completed.

--Construction of research facilities started at three new medical schools: The University of Connecticut Medical School at Farmington; The Pennsylvania State University Medical School at Hershey; The University of Texas South Texas Medical School at San Antonio. These facilities will help promote activities in the three interrelated fields of medical education, research and the delivery of medical services.

--Construction of a new biochemical research facility was completed at the Oklahoma State University.

--A permanent research unit was completed at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California.

--The clinical sciences building at the Downstate Medical Center of the State University of New York was completed. Previously, the University's research facilities were scattered through unused rooms--and even remodeled porches--of a hospital, as well as in borrowed space in the basic sciences building. Now there are modern research laboratories readily adaptable to the changing needs of biomedical research.

--The area used for health sciences research at Yale University was more than doubled with the completion of a new building.

--An experimental school was completed in Albertson, New York, for severely handicapped children who otherwise would be homebound and restricted to a few hours of instruction by visiting teachers. The school will be run by the Human Resources Foundation, in cooperation with the New York University Medical School, to find new ways to make life more meaningful for our handicapped children.

The success of the program appears not only in facts and figures, but in its overall contribution to a healthier America. It has proved to be an outstanding example of Federal partnership with colleges, universities, hospitals and non-profit research institutions in furtherance of the Nation's efforts to serve its citizens.

It is a privilege, therefore, for me to submit to the Congress the 11th Annual Report of the Surgeon General summarizing our progress under the Health Research Facilities Program.

LYNDON B. JOHNSON

The White House

June 12, 1967