STATE STREET RESEARCH NAMES HEALTH CARE TEAM TO MANAGE HEALTH SCIENCES FUND

The firm's experienced Healthcare Team of equity analysts haveresearch coverage responsibilities for the various subsectors of healthcareincluding biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, specialty drugs, medical supplies,medical devices, HMOs and hospitals. They will be replacing John Borzilleriwho is leaving the firm to join a local venture capital group.

"The team approach to managing the fund coupled with the Team'sresearch expertise, should continue to provide investors with consistentinvestment return potential," said Jim Weiss, Chief InvestmentOfficer-Equities for State Street Research. "Funds focused on healthcarehave been performing exceptionally well - in a world where healthcare is atop priority and medical breakthroughs continue to drive medical, health andpharmaceutical products and services."

State Street Research & Management Company, with a money managementhistory dating back to 1924, is one of the nation's first investmentmanagement organizations. The Boston-based firm is a subsidiary of MetLife,one of the world's largest financial services companies. As of July 31, 2001, State Street Research managed $50 billion in assets, of which over $31 billionrepresented institutional clients and $19 billion represented mutual fundand variable annuity portfolios. The firm manages money for 10 of the 15largest U.S. corporate pension plans (as reported in the 2001 MoneyManagement Directory), union programs, public employee pension plans, mutualfunds for over 576,000 shareholder accounts, as well as individually managedaccounts for affluent investors. The firm's Web site address iswww.ssrfunds.com.

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