NIH Director Highlights Excitement of the Field at Neuroscience 2015
Oct 28, 2015
Identifying this as an era of unprecedented advances in neuroscience, NIH Director Francis Collins addressed thousands of attendees at Neuroscience 2015 in Chicago on October 20. “The field is in a remarkable phase of opportunity,” he said, citing the strength of the global research agenda and emerging discoveries. He highlighted the role of initiatives such as the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative and the Human Connectome Project. Collins also stressed the importance of developing new technologies that can move the field forward and collaborations that can stimulate new ideas.
Continued discovery — fueled by the creation of new technologies and techniques — will require continued robust funding, Collins said, and that remains a challenge in the U.S. He cited the 2012-2013 budget sequestration that limited NIH funding, noting that the agency has not yet recovered from that time. He is hopeful, however, that such a scenario will not be repeated this year.
Collins spoke about the necessity of communicating the field’s great progress and even greater potential, whether to school teachers, the lay public, or policymakers. Increasing public awareness can fuel greater public support. “A single voice is a good thing,” he said. “A symphony is a whole lot better.”
