Science & Austerity: Collins replies

NIH Director Francis Collins has challenged the basic premise of BioCentury's 2012 Back to School Commentary on "Science & Austerity," arguing that America's global leadership in bioscience research, the public health benefits and the economic outcomes will motivate lawmakers to keep money flowing to NIH.

The Back to School essay argued that shrinking publicly funded science budgets in the U.S. and other developed countries will be under severe stress for the foreseeable future and that the "global science community must decide how to succeed with less money."...