AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Gov. Rick Perry says the state's $3 billion cancer-fighting fund battered by controversy has elevated Texas into the worldwide conversation about the disease.
Perry made an unannounced visit Thursday at the annual meeting of the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. The agency has been shaken by the resignations of two Nobel laureates and more than 30 peer reviewers who began to question the integrity of the funding process.
Perry did not address the controversy during brief remarks to a ballroom of scientists and researchers. But he praised the peer-review process and the agency's oversight board, some of whom Perry appointed.
Agency leaders have repeatedly denied politics guiding funding decisions. They're hoping to use this week's conference to move past the internal allegations.
