BioCentury
ARTICLE | Politics & Policy

FASEB backs NIH plans for graduate research

September 6, 2012 12:39 AM UTC

The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology said it "strongly agrees" with most of the recommendations contained in an NIH working group's June report on developing a "sustainable and diverse" biomedical research workforce to ensure U.S. competitiveness. FASEB expressed support for recommendations to shorten the biomedical research training period and to involve public and private sector employers in designing graduate programs for students seeking employment in the biotech and pharma industry. However, FASEB cautioned against making industry-focused training a requirement or incentivizing the development of programs that focus on industrial careers at the expense of more broad-based research training.

FASEB said the primary mission of NIH training programs should be to prepare doctoral students to conduct "cutting-edge research," disagreeing with a recommendation to fund master's degree programs designed for non-research-intensive science careers, such as public policy. FASEB also urged NIH to integrate any new training activities in a cost neutral manner. FASEB's comments came in a letter to NIH Director Francis Collins and the working group's co-chairs, Shirley Tilghman and Sally Rockey. Rockey is the deputy director for extramural research at NIH, while Tilghman is president of Princeton University. ...