Stimulating science

From the April 1, 2009 edition of The Journal Record
By Stephen Prescott
Guest Columnist

When President Barack Obama made his inaugural address to the country, he promised “to restore science to its rightful place.”

Of course, he also promised a lot of other things as he stood on the steps of the nation’s Capitol in January. But that one phrase in particular sounded like a clarion call in the nation’s laboratories, where so many M.D.s and Ph.D.s devote their days – and nights – to unlocking nature’s mysteries and advancing science.

With the economic stimulus package, President Obama made good on that pledge. And for the nation’s biomedical researchers, the help couldn’t come at a more crucial time.

For the last half-decade, the funding picture for science has been grim. In biomedical research, for example, the National Institutes of Health has seen flat budgets since 2003.

Nevertheless, the cost of conducting research has continued to rise, with research expenses now 30 percent higher than they were six years ago. So those 2003 dollars buy many fewer test tubes – and pay many fewer technicians and post-doctoral fellows – than they did in 2003.

The National Science Foundation, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and other agencies that fund scientific research have seen similar funding droughts.

But after years of flat funding and hobbled research, President Obama has given science a much-needed shot in the arm with his federal stimulus package. Specifically, $21.5 billion will go to research and development, with $10.4 billion of this figure to go to the National Institutes of Health over the next two years.

At the NIH, many of these dollars will go to fund high-quality grant applications that narrowly missed getting funded previously. Due to the tight budgets in previous years, funding levels had dropped to an all-time low, with some institutes within the NIH funding only 10 percent of applications. This meant that many deserving projects were being left out in the cold.

With the stimulus dollars, the NIH can restore funding levels to more historically healthy levels – in the 25-percent range.

This will allow the NIH to support novel research projects, not just safe bets. The stimulus funds will also give the NIH the means to supplement current grants, providing successful researchers access to new equipment and much-needed resources.

We’ve all heard much talk about shovel-ready projects. But as technology and biotechnology play an ever-more-focal role in our economy, our future will rely less on shovels than on intellectual capital and innovation. Indeed, the research support provided by the NIH already supports $50 billion in economic activity in the states – or $2 for every NIH dollar invested.

By making a major investment in the NIH and science, President Obama has signaled that he intends to do everything possible to keep the U.S. at the forefront in the world of science and biomedicine. These dollars will pay untold dividends for our nation’s health and economy.

I, personally, can’t think of a better investment.

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