This comment is from Kalev Freeman from Duxbury. He is an associate professor of emergency medicine at the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont and an emergency doctor at the University of Vermont Medical Center.
I am writing today because I am deeply concerned about recent attacks against scientific funding – in particular the drastic cuts of the National Institutes of Health.
I devoted my career to emergency medicine research which improves the care of traumatized patients in rural areas like Vermont. I work with other scientists and doctors to develop better diagnostic tests, optimize blood transfusion protocols and discover new drugs that decrease inflammation and abnormal blood coagulation in seriously injured patients.
This medical progress is particularly important for members of our community injured in remote places requiring long transport times to access emergency care. All this research is possible due to the funding of the National Institutes of Health. Our work to help improve the life of vermonters depends on this funding and without it, Vermonters will suffer from it.
What people may not do is that medical research not only improves health, but also brings federal dollars to the state that create good jobs with benefits. For example, one of our research studies recently received a subsidy of $ 12 million, Including about $ 1.4 million for my team at the University of VermontTo study the rescue potential for plasma transfusions in serious trauma.
Almost all of these dollars go to wages, including those of guards, technicians, nurses and staff who form the backbone of our university. These subsidies also offer opportunities to the next generation of doctors and scientists who are impatient to engage in advanced research. The students and trainees of our laboratories learn to think critically and to make science, while advancing their own career.
Over the past two months, we have attended an unprecedented attack on science, including reductions in federal research contracts and training subsidies, the cessation of dismissal of the staff of the National Institutes of Health and a general rupture of the process of dispersion of new funds. If it is not controlled, these actions will destroy a whole generation of trainees, compromise our scientific progress and eliminate the United States from the main position in the science and technology that we have appreciated for decades.
Avoiding the National Institutes of Health will certainly not help our budget deficit, because total funding of the institution is less than 1% of the total federal expenses. While the congress is preparing the credits for the 2010 financial year, it is essential that we defend the sciences and support the financing of the National Institutes of Health and other key scientific agencies.
We need continuous investments in research to make Vermonters in better health, raise our higher education establishments and create good jobs for workers.