The 115th Congress has begun its legislative work, and we’re five days into the presidency of Donald Trump. To say that Washington, D.C., is active in these early days of 2017 is an understatement. The focus of political leaders is not – shockingly – how to handle biomedical research and science policy over the next couple of years. The spotlight is focused on the future of the Affordable Care Act, who is going to pay for a southern border war,…
Today has been an interesting day, and it is best explained chronologically. This morning, ASBMB public affairs staff learned that an email went out today to senior National Institutes of Health officials apparently instituting new, though temporary, procedures for correspondence with public officials. The email states that all correspondence must be approved by the Department of Health and Human Services. The e-mail reads: “Colleagues, For your additional awareness, please note that we have been directed not to send any correspondence to…
Update January 20, 2017 As the news broke yesterday that Dr. Collins would be held over as the Director of the NIH, we have looked for more details regarding Dr. Collins’ continuation. As was reported widely in the media yesterday, Trump transition officials asked more then 50 senior level officials from the Obama administration to “hold over” in their current positions, while the Trump Administration continues to fill out its permanent staff. It remains unclear if Dr. Collins is a…
All three of the ASBMB’s peer-reviewed journals (Journal of Biological Chemistry, Journal of Lipid Research, and Molecular & Cellular Proteomics) accept submissions of manuscripts hosted on preprint servers. While the ASBMB doesn’t oppose preprints being included in grant applications, some members do have concerns about how preprints will be used and whether they will increase the burden on grant reviewers. The ASBMB supports policies that provide investigators every opportunity to compete fairly for grant funding, and we encourage the NIH…
ASBMB Statement on 21st Century Cures Statement from Benjamin Corb, public affairs director of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology: “The ASBMB applauds Rep. Fred Upton, Rep. Diana DeGette, Sen. Lamar Alexander and Sen. Patty Murray for their bipartisan cooperation in drafting, managing and now passing the 21st Century Cures Act. And we applaud the bipartisan support from the Congress and the White House for biomedical research broadly – and the National Institutes of Health specifically. Although we…
Transition Updates President-elect Donald Trump is putting together his Cabinet. It was widely reported yesterday that neurosurgeon and former presidential candidate Ben Carson took himself out of the running for consideration as secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, citing his lack of experience in running an agency. Others in the running for the top spot at HHS include House budget committee chair Tom Price of Georgia, former Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, and former House speaker Newt…
Below is a guest post by Jonathan Sachs, of the University of Minnesota. Dr. Sachs is a member of the ASBMB Public Affairs Advisory Committee, and was inspired by the statement put out by ASBMB reaffirming our commitment to diversity and inclusion. His views are his, and not the position of ASBMB or the PAAC. Astoundingly to some, we are living in a world that is markedly different than it was a week ago. We have already seen countless examples…
The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology is committed to ensuring a diverse, inclusive and supportive environment in which scientists can make the important breakthroughs that will improve the health and quality of life of people across the world. During the 2016 presidential election, we heard harsh rhetoric that caused great concern among those in our diverse community. Since the election of Donald Trump as president-elect, we have seen violence and other hate-inspired acts that make members of our…
There is nothing in the 2016 election results that should indicate that the National Institutes of Health will lose support in the 115thCongress. I have always said that no one ever wants to be on “Team Cancer.” No one is ok with the devastating impact cancers and diseases like it have on people. Funding the biomedical research community, specifically the NIH, has been – and I imagine will continue to be under President-Elect Donald Trump – a bipartisan area of…
Below is a guest post by Suzanne Pfeffer, of Stanford University. Dr. Pfeffer is a past-president of ASBMB. This election seems to be the most important election of my entire adult life. There were other elections in the past where I didn’t vote for, or agree with the views of the winner, but we made it through, nonetheless. This is the first time where the conversation is such that if I quoted the speaker at my workplace, I could lose…