The Check Is In The Mail

Some of you have been wondering how federal funds are used for scientific research. As soon as I figure it out, I'll let you know....

But seriously, the federal system is flawed. I can tell you about it first-hand. Basically, a scientist at an academic institution spends an inordinate amount of time writing grant proposals that are reviewed by a panel of one's peers and given a score/percentile ranking. In the second tier of review, a council meets to decide which proposals will be funded based on score and priority ranking. If you're lucky, the entire review process at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) takes approximately nine months from submission to start date. If you're unlucky, you're given an excellent score and told to wait indefinitely due to federal funding issues. In my own recent case, I was put on hold for over a year with a top-ranked grant. At the end of the fiscal year, the grant was administratively withdrawn due to lack of federal funds.

The delay period was a living nightmare. I was unable to resubmit the same proposal to NIH because it would have replaced the original proposal entirely (there are NIH rules about not having two of the same proposal under review at the same time). I was also in the unenviable position of trying to find funds to pay for my technician and keep the research project going without losing momentum. In an even worse case that occurred a few years ago, the NIH grant that was supposed to pay my own salary was delayed by four months. I worked those four months without pay and eventually received retroactive pay. During that time, a colleague remarked, "So, do you eat retroactively, as well?"

So, where do things stand now? I eventually resubmitted that NIH grant proposal that had been kept on hold. A couple of weeks ago, I found out that this same proposal that had gotten such high praise earlier, had been torpedoed to the bottom of the list and would not be funded. It's a waiting game now. The next resubmission date for NIH is July 1st. Thank goodness there are private foundations that have kept things going. Life in academia is not a bowl of cherries (see fruit plate below). But I can't imagine doing anything else. The rewards are not monetary, for sure. Yet, there is a great reward in discovering new things every day and working toward new medical treatments that may help alleviate suffering in the world. That alone would be compensation enough for me. But, darn it, I do have a mortgage to pay.