Editors: JOHN P. HUBBARD, M.D..
THE origins and initial operations of Playtex Park Research Institute in support of pediatric research were reported in this column a year and a half ago. When the Institute was founded by the International Latex Corporation it was described as "an experiment in industrial giving." The accomplishments of the Institute to date justify the faith that the sponsor and the governing board had in the concept that industry and medicine can work as a team for the common good with great effectiveness.
The medical world is well aware of the ever present necessity for the private augmentation of the pitifully small existing funds for pediatric research. It is indeed fortunate that Playtex Park Research Institute is the beneficiary of its sponsor's realistic and farsighted approach to this need. In the short period of less than three years, the Institute has received almost $700,000.00 in commitments from the International Latex Corporation which is indeed a generous contribution to the advancement of pediatric knowledge. This has made the Institute's sponsor the largest private source of funds for pediatric research in the country, and possibly the world. The sponsor insists on taking no part in deciding how this money is spent. Reflecting these wishes, such jurisdiction is placed solely in the hands of the 25 physicians comprising the Institute's Board of Governors.