Path Talk
Commentary by
David B. Roth, Irene Diamond Professor of Immunology and Chair of the Department of Pathology
What’s up with the NIH downturn?
April 1, 2008
I've been doing a lot of thinking about the NIH downturn of late, and I was momentarily heartened when, in a recent issue of Science, a news item titled "Bush to Science: 'Let's Be Friends'" caught my eye. As a gesture of reconciliation, our President had reportedly "embraced his inner researcher" and offered a $10B boost to the NIH budget. Confused, I searched for clues to explain this dramatic change of heart...and then noticed the online issue date: April 1, 2008. So perhaps it is not to be...
On a serious note, many people have been talking about the impact of the NIH downturn on science at NYU and on the Department of Pathology. I am happy to report that we are weathering this drought quite well, thanks to the tireless efforts of our researchers. A few numbers: in FY 2004, our total grant dollars were, as best I can tell, $10,737,820. (I picked this date because I became Chair in September, 2004.) Our current grant dollars (projected, FY 08): $18,349,445. Needless to say, I'm proud of our scientists.
How did we grow so dramatically, during a period in which the NIH was not growing and, in adjusted dollars, actually shrinking? One component is diversification of funding sources—investigators in the Department have aggressively pursued, and obtained, funds from non-NIH sources, including the Gates Foundation, the American Cancer Society, the Defense Department, and disease-specific foundations. Another is a willingness to pursue collaborative grants, such as NIH roadmap funding (two Department members are members of two different NIH Nanomedicine Development Centers). Many of us have successfully pursued outside funding for our trainees—or our trainees have successfully pursued training funds for themselves—from a variety of outside sources.
Finally, our faculty have been extraordinarily persistent... and persistence often pays off. I'm especially proud of two things: our new faculty have been very successful in obtaining substantial funding, and our faculty as a whole have been extraordinarily collegial, taking the time to read, review, and critique each other's grant applications. Congratulations to all of you! I highlight this funding success here to serve as encouragement, both for faculty and for trainees. I'm convinced that it really is possible to scrape together enough funding to be highly successful, even during these more financially constrained times. Of course, if President Bush really wants to give the NIH a boost, I'm all for it. And now, I'm off to read an enterprising graduate student's NRSA application.
