| Could the United States lose its lead in biomedical research?
Cancer Center Director Raymond N. DuBois, M.D., Ph.D., got an inquiry, but he wasn't interested in moving to Korea. However, some other high-level cancer researchers in the United States have packed up their skills and moved to foreign countries that are committing millions of dollars for cancer and other biomedical research, he says.
"China could do the next new research," DuBois observes.
"That's frightening," says David H. Johnson, M.D., and deputy director of Vanderbilt-Ingram. "What it means is the U.S. no longer views that as a priority."
The National Cancer Institute is anticipating another funding decrease this year, which would be the fourth in a row for the nation's principal agency for cancer research.
NCI Director John E. Niederhuber, M.D., devoted his update in the July 5 Cancer Bulletin to the budget issue, noting that the organization's Board of Scientific Advisors sees this as one of the most difficult times in the history of the National Institutes of Health, NCI's parent agency.
"Federal deficits resulting from the events following 9/11 have contributed to unanticipated fiscal pressures that have placed a
significant stress on resources assigned to support the country's biomedical research community," Niederhuber wrote. "The single biggest challenge ñ and the foremost driver
of uncertainty for the biomedical research community ñ is the annual discretionary budget appropriation supporting NIH and, specifically, NCI."
Some fear the lagging federal funding could cause the United States to lose its position as the world leader in biomedical research, especially now that other countries are heavily investing in it and recruiting researchers from across the globe.
"One of the few things we actually
export is medical knowledge," observes Johnson, noting the U.S. cache of Nobel Prize winners. "We're in real danger of losing that preeminence."
Another negative impact, DuBois says, is that the country's cadre of talented researchers may shrink since young trainees won't be able to get funded to do that work. They may choose clinical specialties, such as medical or surgical oncology, instead of devoting 10 to 15 years coming up through the research ranks, he adds.
"For the future, I think it will have a real super-negative impact," says DuBois. "It's going to have a major impact on the quality and number of people who are available to do that kind of work."
"Training has been one of the most preserved areas of all of NCI's budget," says Ernest T. Hawk, M.D., M.P.H., director of the agency's Office of Centers, Training and Resources. This support is necessary to ensure the nation will have enough cancer researchers in the coming years, especially since the looming population bulge will
mean a larger number of people will develop the disease.
The current fiscal climate creates both a challenge and an opportunity, he says.
"The pressure of the current environment is forcing us to reexamine everything we do," he says, noting that cancer professionals, advocacy agencies and the public at large are being asked for input about cancer goals and programs. That process can lead to all parties working together more effectively and productively, he says.
"It's not a happy situation we find ourselves in, but there are opportunities in it," he asserts. "We're trying to minimize the impact of it."
When the American Cancer Society brings 10,000 people to Washington, D.C., to raise awareness of cancer issues, Chief Medical Officer Harmon J. Eyre, M.D., says their top priority is to promote increased funding for cancer research. He calls it a critical fundamental effort in the war on cancer. "We believe that the Cancer Centers are the fundamental place in the country where research is conducted," he adds.
And he sees only good things coming out of that strong commitment.
"It's beginning to be very clear that there will come a time when cancer will be a disease of the past," Eyre says. "There is a tremendous optimism among those of us who have been around a while."
– by Elizabeth Older
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