Beyond the college walls

The author outlines historical and current reasons that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and academic medicine are inherently political and are now facing expanding political exposure. She emphasizes especially the power of modern discoveries in biology; this power stems from the many practical benefits that these discoveries can bring and their economic implications, and the growing public awareness of these benefits and implications. She then discusses the political realities of the biomedical enterprise, illustrating them by describing the nature of issues surrounding (1) the NIH budget and (2) technology transfer. Discussion of the latter topic includes a detailed description of controversies about patents (which revolve around the issue of who owns and controls the distribution and use of scientific information) and several important policy issues that are raised by these controversies (e.g., should there be uniform international policies regarding intellectual property rights associated with discoveries of novel biologically expressed genes of uncertain in-vivo function, and if so, how is that achieved?). The author concludes by stating that these examples of the politics of knowledge and of the NIH are among many vital biomedical issues of American life (which she lists) that require the academic medicine community to look beyond its own walls and participate in the complex world of politics and public policy.