Top AIDS researcher ditches Canada (partly) and no one will replace him.
The Gobe and Mail – quickly become the voice of Canadian science news and commentary – reports (on the front page, no less!) that UdeMontreal AIDS researcher Rafick-Pierre Sekaly has taken a position as scientific director of the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute in Florida. The move is reportedly in part due to concern about funding for his young team of researchers, with as many of 25 people planing to move from UdeM to Florida. While the funding cuts by “Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government” are contrasted with President Obama’s pledge to double research funding, the story also reveals that Dr. Sekaly will maintain a lab at UdeM, and only plans to spend 1/3 of his time in Florida. Furthermore, Dr. Sekaly’s current $3.5-million in annual funding is expected to continue, since most of it already comes from American sources.
I’m afraid it’s a bit of a stretch to argue that this is necessarily part of the mass exodus predicted after the funding cuts – Dr. Sekaly hasn’t had his funding cut, and doesn’t expect to. His concern for his students and post-docs is a little much, since many graduates of Canadian universities already find positions in the US easily, and it isn’t clear how relocating the lab will help them. Furthermore, Dr. Sekaly is only spending part of his time on the new directorship, which sounds more like a career move than a heart-wrenching decision made based on the chilly research funding climate.
Regardless, there may soon be no one to replace him, argued the same Globe on the weekend. In a long-feature in the Focus section, Erin Anderssen and Anne McIlroy explored why kids don’t want to be scientists. While the byline suggests Ottawa’s policies may be to blame, it seems that kids just don’t think science is cool and exciting. Turns out a career that requires exceptionally hard work and study, years of dedication to achieve qualifications, poor job prospects, and mediocre pay for ridiculously long hours is having a hard time hooking new recruits. It is suggested that scientists do a better job of selling what they do to the public. While I’m not sure it will necessarily convince more people to become scientists, it will at least do a better job of educating the public about what science is and does, which will be of great value during periods where science policy is under examination, as now.
