Although the process is alive and advancing, there are skeptics in the biomedical research community whose perceptions of what a strategic planning process is, what it should be, and what it can accomplish differ from NIH's. And while an increasing number of individuals now say that the idea of a strategic plan for NIH is good, there are those who doubt that a comprehensive plan actually will evolve.
"From the beginning, there was concern about the way the strategic plan was being developed," says an official in the public affairs division of the American Society for Microbiology. "We now have our concern as to how any plan would be implemented; how will resources be allocated when there is a change in mission and no new funding?
"Of concern is the thrust for maintaining an undifferentiated strong basic research agenda and not losing that thrust in the development of the strategic ...
