Mitzi, Linda, and Me
I hate it when I am right about things I don’t want to be right about!
I have commented several times, quite glumly about how the “Moonshot” effort was likely to founder in a sea of
bureaucracy, caution, reverence for hoary tradition, turf war, and an overall indifference
to or fear of genuine innovation. Call it swimming in the Sargasso Sea of government
science. Or maybe, just call it bucking NIH and the FDA. Anyway, here are ominous signs and portents
of stagnation and disaster.
Joe Biden, our VP is, as you know, charged with directing
the Moonshot: our latest war on cancer; As you also know, Joe is a politician,
not a scientist. Naturally, he will need
advice, - and BOY will he get it!
First off, he will receive input from something called the National
Cancer Board (NCB). This consists of 16
members, plus 12 ex officio members – not to mention an Executive Secretary
with a Ph.D. Clearly this is not
sufficient to guide Joe, so the NCB itself will be assisted by the combined
wisdom of the National Cancer Advisory Board (NCAB). The NCAB is comprised of 28 individuals from
as many institutions, all but a very few from the east coast. There is a two-person overlap between the NCB
and the NCAB, meaning that Joe will receive learned input from 42 individuals –
if the 12 ex officious lay low. See why
I am glum?
My glumness, largely rooted in a dread of bureaucracy, is augmented by the fact that, after reading
cancer-related literature for four years, only three of these 42 folks have
names that I recognize. One is Beth
Karlan, based in Los Angeles, who used to co-operate with my Hutch group when
it was alive and functional. She is good.
Another – natch – is the head of NIH.
I am cheered somewhat by being able to report that the NCAB also contains
Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong : elsewhere I have proposed Dr. S – S as a candidate
for Cancer Czar. TRhe signs are clear, though, that, nothing like
this (Cancer Czardom) is likely to occur.
So, Joe: Maybe you should have run for President after all.
Once again here is a summary of the Beck Blue-ribbon Committee
on how to win the war on cancer:
Create a new agency to direct the battle. Do not make it a part of NIH. You can call it the National Cancer Institute
(NCI), to fool budget hawks in Congress into believing that a new agency is not being created – but insure that it is profoundly reorganized.
Make sure that authority flows from the top down, not the other way
around.
Appoint some hyperactive genius polymath as Head. Call him (or her) whatever you like, but make
sure it is a synonym of Cancer Czar. .As stated above, Dr. S – S is the kind of
guy we need, but no doubt there are other brilliant, ambitious, internally driven masochists
that would, and could, do the job.
.
Appoint an
Advisory Committee of no more than a half-dozen top cancer scientists. Replace them every two or three years. Their duties should consist of:
Thoughtfully answering any
questions put to them by the Cancer Czar.
Study the literature,
think hard, and present ideas (respectfully) to the Cancer Czar.
Review the efficacy of existing
projects, and suggest modifications if needed.
Help fight the old guard about
how grant money is allocated, and spent.
And of
course,then there’s Joe. His duties would be
to wage defensive warfare against the NIH and offensive warfare against
Congress. He also should be the smiling,
confident, avuncular face of the War.
But, of course, he’s a politician so that sort of thing should come
naturally.
Here are
some links:
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