Science Policy

At my science education meeting in DC this month, National Institutes of Health (NIH) directors explained how research funding is completely flat right now (and decreasing in terms of cost of living). A former congressman was our keynote speaker and talked to us about what we can do to help (he was the one that helped to double the NIH budget). He explained how most representatives don't know much about research and that to make better decisions, they need our help. He said that besides voting for candidates who support research, we should find out if our state representatives have science policy advisors. If they don't, he told us to volunteer. He also told us to run for office ourselves. Since I'm not doing the latter, I decided to try the former. I just wrote our state representative who was elected this month (who I voted for, like and support). It's completely out of my comfort zone but I guess that's the point. Here's my email below and his response...

Dear (name deleted),

Congratulations on winnning the election! I was so happy to hear about your win - I voted for you and really support what you are doing.

I'm writing to see if you have a science advisor who is helping you navigate the advances in biomedical research as state representative. As you know, there are many new scientific advancements occurring throughout the country right now. Research in Oregon has played a particularly strong role in the understanding of stem cells, diabetes, neuroscience, nanomedicine treatment for cancer as well as how the environment affects our genes (epigenetics). Research advances occur all the time in Oregon and I know that it can be daunting to keep up with the intricacies of all of them - especially since you will have so many other responsibilties as state representative. For that reason, I was hoping that you have a science advisor in place who can inform you about important issues in biomedical research when you need to make policy decisions. If you do not have a science advisor, I would like to volunteer to help in this capacity.

I have my doctorate in neuroscience and worked at the research bench for 11 years before moving to the field of science education to translate scientific research to the public. I currently work at (name deleted) in the office of (name deleted). I talk to teachers, clinicians, elementary school students, grandparents, biomedical researchers and everyone in between on a daily basis. I love science and believe that everyone should be more informed about scientific research - especially when making decisions about its future and the future of Oregon.

If I can be of any help, please don't hesitate to call or email me. Congratulations again on your victory -- I'm looking forward to having you as our representative.

Cheers,
Lisa

and the reply a few days later:

Thanks, Lisa! I really appreciate your support and look forward to representing you.

I also really appreciate your offer of a science advisor. As a child, I spent hours with my mom in the lab learning to count white blood cells and working with science, so these issues are near and dear to me. I would love to be able to call you from time to time for advice, and please don't hesitate to contact me as things come up.

Thanks again!

Best,
(name deleted)

So I guess that's a start. Time will tell if anything will happen from it.