We ask you to recognize that your investment in our company may not be as profitable to you as it has been historically. At the same time, we ask you to recognize that our scientific efforts serve a fundamental public good, the improvement of human health. We seek to maintain our talented and dedicated workforce because we feel that this human capital is the best way for us to achieve our underlying goal: to provide safe, innovative and life-saving medicines for people that need them. This can only be achieved through a more thorough understanding of what this industry strives to accomplish and we ask you, as investors, to consider what you intend to accomplish through your investment in our company.

I know, I’m a naive schmuck.

Congressional 8th District: Giffords
DC phone: (202) 225-2542
Tucson phone: (520) 881-3588
Total NIH funding = $5,760,729
UA is technically not in Gifford’s district so most of this is to private companies, but we all know those companies locate here due to interactions with UA (or are spinoffs from UA).
Most of us UA funded NIHers live in Gabby’s district so its probably also worthwhile knowing data for Congressional 7 (physically contains UA)…

Congressional 7th District: Grijalva
DC phone (202) 225-2435
Tucson phone (520) 622-6788
Total NIH funding = $187,058,087
Almost all of that is to UA. Not small potatoes! A 3% cut on that means a $5,611,743 hit to the Tucson economy. That number is slightly exaggerated due research expenditures that leave here but assuming a (very reasonable) 75% salary outlay per grant its still $4,298,807.

Create a New Class of Bonds
States and the federal government might issue bonds to support innovation in biomedical science and health services, with preference given to high-risk research and diseases important to public health. Such bonds have long been used to support athletic facilities, airports, and roads. They provide a mechanism for private investment to meet public needs.

For the too lazy to click crowd, here is a pretty table from the paper:

My favorite part of this, and the argument I am going to use, is that new indications for existing drugs is coming almost entirely from public sector research. There are serious cost savings opportunities to be found going this route and FDA approvals for new indications is just the tip of the iceberg.

Unfortunately for me, my rep, who is almost always responsive to these things, is not able to do the job she has done so terrifically for the past several years right now. I have a feeling, though, that her friends, family and staff can be counted on for strong NIH funding support so I’m gonna ring up the local office.

President Obama combined our grief and need for hope perfectly in his tribute to 9 year old Christina Taylor Green:

Here was a young girl who was just becoming aware of our democracy; just beginning to understand the obligations of citizenship; just starting to glimpse the fact that some day she, too, might play a part in shaping her nation’s future. She had been elected to her student council. She saw public service as something exciting and hopeful. She was off to meet her congresswoman, someone she was sure was good and important and might be a role model. She saw all this through the eyes of a child, undimmed by the cynicism or vitriol that we adults all too often just take for granted. I want to live up to her expectations. I want our democracy to be as good as Christina imagined it.

Let us use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully, to sharpen our instincts for empathy, and remind ourselves of all the ways our hopes and dreams are bound together.

President Obama
Tucson, Arizona
January 12, 2011

There is a special kind of guilt that overcomes you when you have the opportunity to hear the man who has inspired such a sense of hope in you for what is possible in this country when it is surrounded by such tragic circumstances. The entire experience was like a surreal dream. I have imagined what it must be like to be present for an Obama speech but never thought I would have the chance to be at one, and much less to be at one when the community in which I live is in desperate need of healing. The entire audience was fixated on his presence and message in a way that I have not experienced previously. Suddenly this seems like a much better place to live and I think about 10,000 people in that arena (and ~15,000 in the overflow venue) feel the same way.

We left to go get in line for entrance into the arena at noon. Walking over from the medical center to the main campus takes about 10 min but as soon as we crossed the main street that separates the two campuses it became clear that we probably should have left earlier. There were people everywhere and quite a bit of confusion about where the lines were starting. As we finally made our way to what looked like a line we learned that the lines had actually started the evening before. Camping gear and all.

While in line we learned that they would be admitting about 10,000 people to the arena (which holds 14,000). Overflow crowds would be admitted to the football stadium (next door) to watch the speech on a big screen. I don’t know exactly how many people were there but as the afternoon wore on we took a walk around and the University mall was more crowded than I have ever seen it before with lines winding around everywhere. Eventually student volunteers were all over the place telling us whether we could expect entrance (we were told yes) and passing out paper and pens for us to write notes for a chain of well-wishes they were building.

It was a warm day in Tucson and people were in line for hours. Tucson is very dry so even if its not hot you get dehydrated. Some of the fraternities were out passing out free water to people in line (great idea). A little later in the afternoon people came out passing out t-shirts (for free) with the words “Together we thrive, Tucson and America”. We found out later that this was the motto for the evening.

At 4PM we finally started to file in and about 5 we made it to the entrance to the arena. After passing through the security (which was remarkably orderly considering the huge crowd) we entered the arena and found seats near the very top row. It seems that they had to stop admitting people to the arena soon after we entered. For the next hour we watched people file in and as they showed politicians (Pelosi, Napolitano, McCain, etc.) the crowd gave applause (the most, by far, was for Janet Napolitano). At some point Dr. Rhee and the other doctors came in and they were shown on the arena screens. The crowd erupted in applause for them.

Right at 6PM President Obama and The First Lady entered to thunderous applause. The evening began with a Native American Blessing which was very well done and President Shelton (UA President) introduced the program. Some biblical readings were given and I thought they were very appropriate considering the occasion. When Janet Napolitano was introduced to give her reading the crowd gave her a several minute standing ovation. It is clear that this city misses her as our governor (but I knew that already).

At about 6:30, President Obama took the stage to one of the most rousing ovations I have heard in my lifetime. If you didn’t see the speech, its available here. There were parts, such as his description of Christina Taylor Green’s all too short life where there was not a dry eye in the arena (at least around me). He asked us to honor her life by living up to the expectations offered by the hopefulness of her youth. For the people there, sharing that moment seemed to signal the start of our collective healing experience.

Being in the same place with the President, listening to him speak in person, gave me a new appreciation for the uniqueness of his talent. I realized afterwards that, in many ways, his words tonight were the one’s I had been looking for in my mind to help me understand what happened in Tucson on Saturday. They were also the words that I was looking for to help me move from viewing my community as one that had been eternally fractured to one that has the potential for greatness in the face of tragedy. I do not know why I was not able to come up with those thoughts for my own well being and it is likely the case that I did not even know that they were the ones I was searching for.

All in all, I thought that it was a remarkably well done memorial that represents an excellent start to healing our city. I am very proud to be a part of The University of Arizona tonight. Tucson is a large city (more than a million people) but it is true that this is really a college town. UA is geographically and figuratively the heart of the city and it has been moving, as a faculty member, to see the city come together around the University.

Finally, Daniel Hernandez. Sir, the President is right, you are a hero. You deserved every second of the outpouring of appreciation that you received tonight. That our Congresswoman opened her eyes tonight for the first time and is on the road to recovery is due, in large part, to your courageous efforts to save her life. Thank You.

Back to the TV. They report Giffords is dead. I call my wife, who is in Mexico visiting her parents. We talk for 30 seconds. I break down not even realizing that the line has gone dead. I’m sitting there crying into the phone thinking I’m talking to my wife and the phone rings. I realize the line cut out and get a little laugh. I’ve got it back together and we’re talking. She works in the hospital and has experience with the trauma team. Her thoughts are on what’s happening in the hospital so we’re talking about that. TV reports that Gabby is alive…

We moved to Tucson in Oct 2007. I have voted, proudly, for Gabby Giffords for Congress twice, in 2008 and 2010. In 2008 she won easily. 2010 was a real fight. I have not met Gabby. I feel like I know her well. I have emailed her many times. She has answered my emails personally on a few occasions. She once encouraged me to keep up the work we are doing in the lab (I was emailing her about NIH funding). That meant a great deal to me. When I first came to Tucson, one of the first things I learned about the community was our wonderful rep, Gabby Giffords. Another of my colleagues is very active in the party and has met her a couple of times. He thinks the world of her and told me as much when I mentioned my interest in politics. I get Gabby’s emails on Congressional goings-on. They are always information filled and she presents her views on topics in a very clear manner. I have always been proud to have her as a representative. I hope to continue to be represented by her.

… The TV says that Gabby is in surgery and that she has been shot through the head. A few minutes later Dr Peter Rhee comes on in the UMC press conference and says that she is alive and that he is optimistic about her surviving. This is good news. I see Dr. Rhee around the hospital pretty frequently. He’s an intense guy. My clinical colleagues love him. Apparently he’s as good as it gets. In fact, the whole trauma team is. I know this also because my wife did a rotation with the trauma team. It seemed to have been one of the best clinical experiences of her life. Her goal is to work with that team (she’s applying for a position that opened last week). I know Gabby’s in good hands. Despite the tragedy, I’m very proud of the place where I work.

As the day wears on the shock goes away and the anger (if that’s the right word) sets in. This is not the community I thought I was joining when I moved here three years ago. It hasn’t been that community for quite some time. The Pima County Sherif is right, Arizona has become a place of great anger and bigotry. My wife and I want to have a family. This is not, currently, the place where I would like to raise that family. There is great bigotry toward Mexicans and Mexican-Americans here. Our child will be a Mexican-American. How can we live here? There are guns everywhere here. The state government has made laws that make owning a gun as easy as buying a stick of chewing gum. People open carry into family restaurants here. Not too long ago we were in a local, neighborhood eatery and some guys walked in carrying their guns like badges of courage. They were, in fact, cowards bent on intimidating their neighbors. At another restaurant we thought we overheard someone calling my wife a wetback. I wanted to confront them but we weren’t sure we heard clearly. I should have said something. The person that ran against Gabby in the 2010 election held all sorts of events at shooting ranges. What type of image is that? And he almost won.

Not too long ago I was driving back from Phoenix, by myself, at night. I turned on AM radio to keep myself awake. There was nothing but right wing hate on. I listened for a while. I was sleepy. I have never heard anything like it before in my life. Most of it was local. Shock-jocks from Phoenix spewing conspiracy and hate. Guns, guns, guns. No taxes, no taxes, no taxes. Obama’s a muslim, Obama’s a socialist, Obama’s a terrorist. I wanted to vomit. I turned it off. I wasn’t that sleepy after all.

I’m a liberal. Always have been. I grew up in conservative Dallas. All my friends there are Republicans (well, not all, but most). We disagree with each other on politics. We get along just fine in real life. I thought that moving to another conservative place would be like living in Dallas again. Its not. There is real hate here. During the 2008 election I was rearranging my Obama for President signs (I was quite proud of my signs) and my neighbor accosted me in my own front yard about evil Obama.

I called my Mom this afternoon to clear my mind. I told her most of this. We’d talked about it before but I don’t think she’d ever realized just how crazy things have become here. I tried to explain to her that unless you live in Arizona its hard to understand just how extreme some of the views here have become. On TV everyone’s talking about Palin and Beck and all the wackjobs on national radio. I’m telling you, it runs much deeper than that here. You can carry guns into bars here. That’s endemic lunacy.

There is a candlelight vigil going on down the street at the hospital. There are a lot of people there. People are also gathered at Gabby’s office but they are across the street because there was a bomb scare. I hope this community pulls together and overcomes this with a real effort to squelch the hate and bigotry.

I don’t know Gabby but she’s a friend of mine. I hope to vote for her in 2012.