News
Molecular Imaging News
March 10, 2005
SNM President Voices Concern Over DOE Budget Cuts
SNM
SNM President Mathew L. Thakur, PhD, broadened awareness of the society’s campaign to protest cuts to the molecular/nuclear medicine programs in the Department of Energy’s Medical Applications and Measurement Science Program in a March 8 article in The Scientist.
Thakur, who is quoted in the article, "U.S. Nuclear Medicine Funds Slashed; President’s 2006 Budget Would Cut Such Spending at DOE by Two Thirds," reported that the SNM has urged members to protest planned DOE budget cuts. President Bush’s proposed budget reduces funding for molecular/nuclear programs from approximately $37 million in FY ’05 to $13.6 million in FY ’06. Most of the remaining $13.6 million in FY ’06 will go to research in fields unrelated to nuclear medicine. SNM strongly opposes these proposed budget cuts and is coordinating a response urging Congress to reinstate molecular/nuclear medicine funding to the DOE.
The Scientist article also quotes an Office of Management and Budget spokesperson who indicated that molecular/nuclear medicine was cut because it didn’t advance DOE’s core mission, which doesn’t include medical research. That official went on to say that funding could come from the National Institutes of Health for this research, but so far these programs were not transferred into the NIH budget. Thakur indicated that currently NIH is struggling "to give enough money to their deserving researchers."
The SNM president mentions also that he and other society officers met with representatives of OMB last month and anticipate a future meeting.
The Scientist is a biweekly publication with 70,000 print subscribers and 1.2 million online readers. Most subscribers work in the life sciences (including lab directors and researchers).
