Are you feeling stimulated?

From the October 14, 2009 edition of The Journal Record
By Stephen Prescott

Last week, The New York Times ran a profile of National Institutes of Health director Francis Collins. Alongside the story, which discussed not only Collins’ watershed work on the human genome project but also his recent jam session with guitar legend Joe Perry of Aerosmith, ran a photo of Collins.

He was grinning. And really, that’s no surprise.

That’s because, like so many other sectors of the economy, the NIH has received an infusion of federal stimulus funds or, technically, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. And a few weeks back, the NIH made its first major distribution of those funds.

Concurrent with President Obama’s visit to the NIH on the last day of September, the agency awarded $5 billion of stimulus grants to medical research centers around the country. Grants, which were awarded on a competitive basis, went to scientists in all 50 states.

In Oklahoma, scientists at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation were fortunate – and talented –enough to secure $14.7 million in stimulus funding over the next two years. Those awards will pay for five new projects at OMRF and provide supplements to 12 existing research projects.

OMRF was not the only Oklahoma institution to compete successfully for NIH stimulus funds. The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center received $9 million in grants, and OU-Norman, Oklahoma State University and others secured awards as well.

The money will, of course, help advance our knowledge of human disease. But it will also provide a big shot in the arm to Oklahoma’s economy, creating new jobs, retaining current ones and fueling widespread economic activity through purchases of supplies and equipment.

This is all great news. Yet the big question is, what happens when the stimulus funds dry up in 2011?

For the last five years, the NIH budget has been pinched. That’s meant that funding levels for potentially lifesaving medical research have dropped to near-historic lows.

If stimulus money proves to be a short-term patch, and NIH funding drops back to 2008 levels, Collins predicts that fewer than one in eight grant applications will be funded. That could have catastrophic implications both for American science and our economy.

America’s status as the world leader in science and technology has never faced a greater challenge, as nations in Asia, Europe and around the globe are pouring more and more money into bulking up research and development. Like the U.S., they have realized that a thriving bioscience sector serves as a keystone to building a robust economy – not to mention an educated, healthy and enlightened populace.

Experts have also estimated that the NIH stimulus funds will create or maintain 50,000 jobs over the next two years. If we are to maintain our competitive advantage in this increasingly flat world, we can ill afford to put 50,000 scientists and technicians out on the street.

The NIH stimulus package will do great things for American science and for Americans suffering from all manner of disease. We just need to ensure this support continues beyond 2011. Because a Band-Aid, no matter how big, will only stop the bleeding for so long.

Stephen Prescott is president of the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation.

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