US President-elect Joe Biden introduced the White House science team last weekend.
It is said that pioneering geneticist Dr. Eric Lander has been appointed as Director of Science and Technology Policy, which has elevated the position of science advisor to cabinet-level status.
Eric Lander, who led the Human Genome Project, is currently a professor at Harvard and MIT. Elevating him to the cabinet level is an indication that the Biden administration will greatly strengthen science policy in the future.
The Biden administration, which will be launched on the 20th (local time), is planning to form a strong scientific team and launch the largest scientific project in the history of the United States under the slogan’American Rescue Plan’. Ⓒtwitter.com/joebiden
Biden “The most powerful scientific team was formed.”
Biden also announced that he has appointed Alondra Nelson, Chairman of the Social Science Research Council, as Deputy Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).
He then announced that he has selected MIT geophysicist Maria Zuber and Nobel Prize winner Frances H. Arnold as co-chairs as co-chair of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Science and Technology.
Biden spoke to the OSTP and the President’s Technical Advisory Committee during the presentation of the science team, saying, “It has been the White House’s most extraordinary but least known department in the past four years.” However, the newly formed science team was expected to be active, saying, “It is composed of the best people in the world.”
According to’CNN’ on the 18th, he expressed regret for failing to open the possibility of cancer treatment when he was in office as vice president in the past.
Biden’s son Beau, in particular, died of brain cancer in 2015 at the age of 46. Everyone is convinced that Biden has said that solving the cancer problem will be his top priority.
Unlike the previous Trump administration, the fact that the new government will implement the opposite science-first policy has already been foreseen.
“The president-elect is well aware of the importance of science and technology,” said Eric Lander, who was appointed OSTP director, in his acceptance speech last week. “I asked us to learn from the epidemic and find bold yet new solutions to climate change. ”
“It also calls on fostering and strengthening the scientific community to create new industries and new jobs, and to ensure that the benefits of this progress are widely shared among all Americans.”
Alondra Nelson, deputy director of OSTP, said, “The Corona 19 crisis caused tremendous suffering, but it gave us an opportunity to see the reality of our society.” I said.
Maximum budget allocation after Roosevelt New Deal
Biden’s announcement of the science team is drawing attention because it is expected that the largest rescue plan in history will be promoted through their activities.
On the 14th (local time), the president-elect announced the’American Rescue Plan’ worth $1.9 trillion (about KRW 2098 trillion). The contents include contents of changing the course of the Corona 19 pandemic and establishing a surveillance system for future viruses.
Biden said in a speech that “the newly formed scientific team will be central to the implementation of many of the rescue plans.”
Meanwhile, many scientists are expressing surprise at Biden’s move.
Professor David Oshinsky, a medical historian at New York University, said, “This is the first time since President Roosevelt’s New Deal policy that such a large-scale project has been carried out in terms of the federal government’s direct involvement in American life.”
According to Science magazine, it is known that 15 experts, including Professor Michael Osterholm, a University of Minnesota epidemiologist who was involved in the acquisition team, provided this idea to Biden.
“In the past, the Trump administration’s Warp Speed project has made rapid movements, including a $11 billion investment in vaccine R&D,” Osterhom said, but did not provide adequate organization and funding to carry out the final steps. .
On the other hand, Professor Osterhom said, “In the future, we will be able to’dramatically’ increase the more thorough surveillance and analysis of the virus, while investing more money in the development, manufacture and purchase of new drugs.
“It seems that public health and science have recently returned to their place,” said Dr. Bruce Gellin, an immunization expert at the Sabin Vaccine Institute. “It is necessary to close the holes in the quarantine that have occurred,” he said.
Professor Fatima Cody Stanford, a Harvard Medical School pediatrician and health policy expert, said, “Distrust about vaccination is deeply entrenched in black society.” There is.”
Regarding these requests, Biden said, “It may take months or even fail to reach our goal, but we will always be honest and transparent with both our good news and bad news through science and scientists.”
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