1. NIH should start a journal called Replication. Any study that adequately shows how published research is replicable or not replicable should automatically be accepted for publication in this NIH journal. You know academics love getting their work published so this will be a huge incentive for people to try to replicate stuff.
2. Make a bunch of mini-NIHs compete with each other based on metrics we want. People can decide which NIH to submit to. Currently, NIH is a monopoly, but we like competition. Israel does this with their free healthcare: customers get to choose 1 out of 4 HMOs. HMOs compete with each other to provide the best care because the amount of funding they get from the government depends on the number of people they serve.
This is so spot on; I couldn't agree more! I've written about this topic broadly here (https://fishermanphil.substack.com/p/america-inc) discussing the need to make government operate like a high-performing company/startup. Including concepts such as "Manhattan Zones" - areas where builders can experiment with full meritocracy, no red tape, and alignment with national interests (the way Silicon Valley was born.)
Your take on reviving NIH with real dynamism is awesome. Rooting hard for Jay. The willingness to act like a startup, take risks, empower the best talent, and absorb the political flak is exactly what it’ll take to right the ship.
Glad to have folks like you spearheading change! We have a great window here, let's shatter some glass and unleash the very best of American ingenuity.
Joe, as an early career surgeon-scientist at an “elite” institution trying to come at lung cancer from a new angle that suggests our geometric understanding tumor borders is inaccurate and that current staging paradigms are rudimentary at best, it has been near impossible to get any by support for my high-risk/high-reward projects. Your view on anti-innovation funding committee’s is spot on. Science, like a surgical residency, should not be pyramidal and gatekept by the old guard. Science should be exciting, new, and risky. As stagnant as we have become, we should aim to challenge dogma and reward novel thought. Unfortunately, of the many early career or career development opportunities that exist, they only function to propagate prior paradigms.
Thank you for addressing this topic. However, the NIH should be abolished as part of separating government and science. Phasing out NIH funding over let's say 10 years will allow for the alternative funding sources you mention to grow and take on the projects the marketplace puts a material or immaterial value on. Basic research with no immediate payoff is still of great interest to philanthropists and others who champion progress for progress' sake. Here's my article on the subject: https://open.substack.com/pub/andersingemarson/p/reforming-the-nih-is-not-enough-abolish?r=6yn7y&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
Its sad that government agencies get to to point that such dramtic reform is necessary to right size the department. I think that its politicians that are the problem because they want the control and do not install department reviews on an a ongoing basis. I am not a fan of Trump but if he is what it takes to reform these departments then what is to be said?
You are mistaken. The war is not over yet because no one has won outright. Hamas and Iran can step up or they will be defeated completely. This is for all the marbles and Hamas members will continue to be killed until they give up. Iran is already showing that Hamas means nothing and they want to not end uo the same as Lebanon. Get with the program please. America is strong and not being destroyed. Hamas is done for. Choose another path, a path for peace and growth in Palenstian.
Many good ideas in this post. Two related ideas:
1. NIH should start a journal called Replication. Any study that adequately shows how published research is replicable or not replicable should automatically be accepted for publication in this NIH journal. You know academics love getting their work published so this will be a huge incentive for people to try to replicate stuff.
2. Make a bunch of mini-NIHs compete with each other based on metrics we want. People can decide which NIH to submit to. Currently, NIH is a monopoly, but we like competition. Israel does this with their free healthcare: customers get to choose 1 out of 4 HMOs. HMOs compete with each other to provide the best care because the amount of funding they get from the government depends on the number of people they serve.
This is so spot on; I couldn't agree more! I've written about this topic broadly here (https://fishermanphil.substack.com/p/america-inc) discussing the need to make government operate like a high-performing company/startup. Including concepts such as "Manhattan Zones" - areas where builders can experiment with full meritocracy, no red tape, and alignment with national interests (the way Silicon Valley was born.)
Your take on reviving NIH with real dynamism is awesome. Rooting hard for Jay. The willingness to act like a startup, take risks, empower the best talent, and absorb the political flak is exactly what it’ll take to right the ship.
Glad to have folks like you spearheading change! We have a great window here, let's shatter some glass and unleash the very best of American ingenuity.
Joe, as an early career surgeon-scientist at an “elite” institution trying to come at lung cancer from a new angle that suggests our geometric understanding tumor borders is inaccurate and that current staging paradigms are rudimentary at best, it has been near impossible to get any by support for my high-risk/high-reward projects. Your view on anti-innovation funding committee’s is spot on. Science, like a surgical residency, should not be pyramidal and gatekept by the old guard. Science should be exciting, new, and risky. As stagnant as we have become, we should aim to challenge dogma and reward novel thought. Unfortunately, of the many early career or career development opportunities that exist, they only function to propagate prior paradigms.
Thank you for addressing this topic. However, the NIH should be abolished as part of separating government and science. Phasing out NIH funding over let's say 10 years will allow for the alternative funding sources you mention to grow and take on the projects the marketplace puts a material or immaterial value on. Basic research with no immediate payoff is still of great interest to philanthropists and others who champion progress for progress' sake. Here's my article on the subject: https://open.substack.com/pub/andersingemarson/p/reforming-the-nih-is-not-enough-abolish?r=6yn7y&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
Cheers!
Run a test of your "fix" with these two articles:
"Beyond Einstein: non-local physics, 7 th ed"
https://www.academia.edu/124905145/Beyond_Einstein_non_local_physics_7_th_ed
"Intuitive Concepts for Atomic and Photon Spin Systems"
https://www.academia.edu/122376141/Intuitive_Concepts_for_Atomic_and_Photon_Spin_Systems_3_rd_ed
Its sad that government agencies get to to point that such dramtic reform is necessary to right size the department. I think that its politicians that are the problem because they want the control and do not install department reviews on an a ongoing basis. I am not a fan of Trump but if he is what it takes to reform these departments then what is to be said?
Finally some really intelligent people looking to solve problems. 🙏☺️
What a pile of 💩
Nice, but this is the last thing Americans should be worried about currently, the zionists genocidaires are destroying america from within.
You are mistaken. The war is not over yet because no one has won outright. Hamas and Iran can step up or they will be defeated completely. This is for all the marbles and Hamas members will continue to be killed until they give up. Iran is already showing that Hamas means nothing and they want to not end uo the same as Lebanon. Get with the program please. America is strong and not being destroyed. Hamas is done for. Choose another path, a path for peace and growth in Palenstian.