Glaxo-Wellcome And K-12 Education

I wish to add a perspective to the good account by Kathryn S. Brown of how K-12 science education efforts are being aided by some pharmaceutical companies ("Corporate Programs Bolster Hands-on Science In Schools," The Scientist, Sept. 1, 1997, page 1). In May 1994, the Worcester Foundation's then four-year-old K-12 science education program was visited by Bruce Alberts, president of the National Academy of Sciences, and Gertrude Elion, scientist emeritus at Glaxo Wellcome Co. To an overflow audience of teachers and high school students, Alberts conveyed the National Academy's vision for K-12 science education reform and Elion captivated the audience with a modestly conveyed overview of her extraordinary career path from her first job measuring pickle pH to the Nobel Prize.

From the resonance that developed between Elion and our program's director, Sandra Myrand, on that afternoon, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund subsequently provided a major grant to...