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  2. Biologists on Board

Biologists on Board

By catdynamics on December 20, 2008.

Varmus and Lander co-chair Presidential Council of Advisers on Science and Technology.

h/t ScienceDebate2008

primary source here - good speech.

Harold Varmus and Eric Lander both biology/medicine oriented.
I said The Big O would need some biologists onboard in some authoritative positions.
And so he did.
Hmmm.
Nah...

Anyway, big question is what role PCAST will play within the administration - whether it will have a seat at the table as it were.
I suspect Holdren will listen to Varmus and Lander, but will Obama listen to Holdren?
We will soon know.
I think he will. Sensible chap.

Next the agencies: NASA, NSF and NIH, and the li'l ones.
That will tell us a lot about implementation and priorities.

Hm, Varmus is another "scientist who started off with a BA in English Literature".
Not many of those, but sure they do well.

'course Lander is a mathematician who moved into bio, and they tend to do really well.
Interesting pattern.

more at evolgen and PZ

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