Science | AAAS
It has been a rough 2 weeks for the US science community. After 4 years of bludgeoning by the Trump administration, hope resurged a year ago as a new White House promised to value science. But there have been missteps, the most recent taking place on the heels of another blunder that many saw coming. Eric Lander, who just stepped down as President Biden’s science adviser and director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), was a prominent research figure with a well-known record of bullying and callous actions. With the notable exception of the 500 Women Scientists organization, the scientific community was embarrassingly silent about Lander’s nomination. Not surprisingly, he is out of the White House because of the same behavioral issues. And yet, in another tone deaf move, the administration just named Francis Collins, the recently retired director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), as Lander’s interim replacement as science adviser while asking Alondra Nelson, the OSTP’s deputy director for science and society and an experienced administrator and scholar, to temporarily direct OSTP. Apparently, Biden doesn’t think Nelson is capable of doing both jobs. I disagree and am not staying silent this time.
The decision to choose Collins for the presidential adviser aspect of the job may appear a strategic move to advance Biden’s biomedical agenda, but the decision to keep Nelson out of this role reflects a chronic ill in America—inequity at the highest levels of leadership. Lander’s vacated position and Nelson’s presence at OSTP already presented a clear opportunity to put someone in the combined role who represents the future of American science.
Certainly, Francis Collins has been a major science policy figure in the US for many years. Through his dogged determination and political skill, he pushed the human genome project to completion and took the helm of the NIH, serving three presidents. Through his masterful abilities to engage with Congress, he reliably secured increases in NIH funding year after year. But the end of his tenure brought problems that weren’t adequately resolved. He was unable to dismantle an outdated grant assessment process that reinforces a low funding rate for Black applicants. And NIH caved to political pressure around the China Initiative, which sought to satisfy the Trump administration’s anti-Asian tendencies by sending letters to universities to disrupt legitimate scientific collaborations with China.
At some point, the scientific community must stand up against anti-Asian racism and injustice in the funding of Black scientists, among other discrimination in the scientific enterprise. That time has to be now, and what is needed is a new cadre of scientific leaders in Washington, DC, who can build a scientific agenda where inclusion of individuals who reflect the diverse makeup, talents, and interests of society is prioritized. Appointing someone as the nation’s science adviser—even on a temporary basis—who has already enjoyed the privilege of leading for many years sends a message that the White House doesn’t care, especially when so many new and diverse leaders are available. It’s hard not to conclude that the administration has gotten what it needs out of science and has lost interest. Given the sluggish pace with which science appointments have been made by the administration, this latest arrangement may last for some time.
Alondra Nelson is one of the visionary leaders in American science today. She was the first Black professor to receive tenure in sociology at Columbia University, has held numerous challenging administrative roles, and currently occupies the Harold F. Linder Chair in the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study. When invited to join OSTP, Nelson stated that “as a Black woman researcher, I’m keenly aware of who has been missing from the room.” After 2 years of witnessing the scientific community succeed at developing vaccines to combat the pandemic but fail at getting full acceptance by the community, it’s clear that Nelson has the expertise that is gravely needed for all of science.
It’s time for the scientific community to commit to a vision of the future where young scientists can get a fair share of funding, where equity for women and people of color is prioritized over protecting processes that reinforce injustices of the scientific enterprise, and where leaders in Washington, DC, represent the future, not the past.
