Nice try. Since when did we as Americans actually care about medical research and health?

Lost my faculty position at a major university after 12 years due to NIH cuts and forced to retire due to nothing else available. These cuts to research have been going on the past 5 years; only 1/10 grants submitted are being funded.

I completely understand your situation AW-1027. I was a faculty member at one of the most prestigious research institutions in the country and had had 27 straight years of successful NIH funding, which included most of my own salary. When my last grant was up for renewal two years ago, I astutely saw the handwriting on the wall and decided to retire rather than go against the tide. I've been a reviewer for NIH for many years and to believe that only the top 10% of research proposals are worth funding is utterly absurd. The current climate for medical research in this country, not to mention what it will be with the sequester, is so totally ridiculous that it's simply driving successful researchers like me from academia. Fortunately, I was close enough to retirement that I could choose that alternative, but heaven help my younger colleagues!

Not only does government-funded science create a lot of jobs, it is also the only way to find cheaper treatments and treatments for rare diseases. Drug companies have every right to turn a profit, but the need for profit prevents them from looking for new uses for old drugs, drugs for rare diseases, or treatments that don't involve an expensive new drug or device. Drug companies also don't do the tedious studies of how diseases are caused or how they can be prevented. They rely on university scientists to provide that information, then use it to develop drugs. Investment in research provides many benefits that most people are completely unaware of. A strange, heat-tolerant bacteria has revolutionized medicine and allowed for DNA analysis used to convict criminals. Most of the big discoveries come from universities, not private companies. And universities throughout the world are mostly funded by governments.

Lot's of excellent research is currently unfunded. On the other hand, lack of research is not our biggest public health problem. Researchers like me with many years of training are losing our jobs. This is an economic problem, not a public health problem. And still, academia keeps pumping out more Ph.D. candidates.

This is an age old trick... If you cut my budget I can't do your special project. It's just BS, any leader who can't work through a 5% budget cut doesn't deserve the job.

eat more chicken ,dont take the flu shot ,and you will live longer! ooh yeah and keep on dancin ...........

The principle reason for NIH research is long term economics.

Research is an economic driver. Not funding it is an extreme mistake. Without science and technology innovation, our country becomes a country of bankers, service deliverers, weapons creators, war creators, lawyers, and entertainers. Maybe we can increase manufacturing, but high labor manufacturing will always follow cheapest labor in today's global society. We must innovate or die. New technologies are something we can export!

Our universities are an engine! Increase research funding, open our borders to PhDs from other countries, create tremendous incentives for private funding, and watch what happens!