Annual report : 2014 / Burroughs Wellcome Fund.

  • Burroughs Wellcome Fund
Date:
2014
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: Annual report : 2014 / Burroughs Wellcome Fund. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Economic news, in general, is brighter than just a few years ago. The housing market is on the upswing, jobless rates are dropping, and commentators say we are no longer in “the Great Recession.” But the news from one very significant sector of the economy—biomedical research—is bleak. Funding from the National Institutes of Health, the backbone of biomedical research funding in America, has steadily decreased in real dollars since 2004. In 2013, the National Institutes of Science received $29.3 billion, when adjusted for inflation is almost 12 percent less than in 2004. NIH-funded research supports an estimated 402,000 jobs across America, yet investment in the NIH has been flat for more than a decade. Postdoctoral researchers, the workhorse of biomedical research, are forced out of science when their mentor’s funding ends, or they find themselves in a series of postdoc positions without the prospect of running their own labs. There are other challenges eroding America’s biomedical research enterprise. In a March 2014 article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, several well-respected scientists, including Harold Varmus, director of the National Cancer Institute and former director of the NIH, highlighted “systemic flaws” in U.S. biomedical research. During the last decades of the 20th century the NIH budget doubled, then doubled again. Then, it dropped. This inconsistent and unreliable investment goes hand-in- glove with methods for choosing who receives grant funding, and for what. A recent shift in focus toward “translational research” risks compromising the science of fundamental questions that open doors yet unknown. President Over time, the current system has created a great imbalance in the workforce. The number of postdoctoral positions, originally intended to provide several years of additional training before a scientist advances to a faculty or other position, far outweighs the number of available faculty positions, as well as other satisfying career options. The result is a highly educated, highly skilled workforce who may not have the career options. Many decide to leave science, which is never a good return on an investment. Others move from one postdoc position to another, biding their time as long as possible. The Burroughs Wellcome Fund is an independent private foundation with two primary goals: To helo scientists early in their careers develop as independent investigators and to advance fields in the basic biomedical sciences that are undervalued or in need of particular encouragement. We identify the most talented, motivated scientists doing the most promising work in research that is underserved by NIH or corporate funding. In 2014, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund distributed $28.4 million in grants to scientists around the country, including $3 million to K-12 teachers in our home state of North Carolina. Our investment in scientists affords them the opportunity to take risks and the chance to make critical, incremental and, sometimes, major insights in understanding.
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