Kincade is new FASEB president

When Paul Kincade is officially introduced as the new president of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) today (July 8), he'll face two tough issues right from the start: recent damning conflict-of-interest issues at the NIH and an increasingly uphill NIH budget battle.Kincade, head of the immunobiology and cancer research program at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, served as president of the American Association of Immunologists (AAI) and chair of the FASEB science policy committee from 2002 to 2003. He studies the maturation and development of B cells.As usual, NIH budget concerns will be a high priority for the new president. According to Kincade and his FASEB colleagues, if President Bush's requested 2.6% NIH budget increase remains untouched by Congress, the NIH will be able to fund 640 fewer new grants next year than they did this year, and some existing grants may have to be capped. The standard rate of biomedical inflation is 3.6%, he said. "You're talking about subinflationary levels of support for the NIH," Kincade told The Scientist. "There'll be an immediate change and investigators will have to ask, 'Do I give my personnel a raise; do I replace equipment that needs replacing; can I afford to do these experiments?'"And, as Kincade acknowledged, recent conflict-of-interest revelations in Congress could threaten to undermine NIH fundraising efforts. After the most recent Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations hearings, Kincade and Wells told committee chair Rep. James C. Greenwood (R-Pa.), to his surprise, that Congress had actually done the NIH a favor, Kincade said. "Credibility is the most important thing that the scientist has," Kincade said. "And we absolutely depend on public trust…There's a lot to be gained from transparency."Kincade acknowledged that new stringent consulting rules could have adverse effects. "It may be that we'll lose some talent from the NIH, and that would be unfortunate," said Kincade, adding that he advocates preserving that talent pool with higher salaries for accomplished NIH scientists.Based on their time together at the AAI, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation president Donald Capra said he believes that Kincade is adept at dealing with politicians, lobbying for bills and agendas, and "handling the vagaries of the NIH process… Paul brings to the table the credibility of having a real bench scientist and yet he's got sort of the talents that are needed to deal with the political spectrum," Capra said.Outgoing FASEB president Robert Wells said that Kincade brings a breadth of knowledge to the job on issues including animals in research and building coalitions with other organizations like the American Chemical Society and American Physical Society.Kincade has long been interested in research training issues, particularly at the graduate student and postdoctoral student levels. "He recognized early on that this is an education process and not a labor force," said former FASEB president Robert Rich of Emory University.Kincade said he has collected and analyzed data about biomedical research education and training so that young scientists will know their options—for example, the chances of eventually finding a tenure-track position in today's market. In a December 2003 FASEB Journal article, Kincade and colleagues reported that the time-to-degree in the biomedical sciences is no longer increasing and that the frequency and length of postdoctoral appointments are decreasing for US biomedical scientists. At the same time, there has been continued growth in the number of foreign postdocs.Among FASEB's other upcoming priorities, said Kincade, is a strategic planning process during which the organization will evaluate itself, its governance, operation, communications, mission, and goals. They plan, for example, how to best balance efforts to educate the public about biomedical research with research advocacy efforts.

Kincade is new FASEB president

Immunologist will face continuing scrutiny of NIH conflicts of interest and budget debate

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