to provide the synergy that accelerates progress. On the Seattle front, these advances contributed to the growth and strengthening of several organizations, including ours. Over the past 10 years, Seattle has cemented its leadership position in life science and global health research. By working together in this new decade, the possibilities of what we can accomplish are very promising.
While we learned much, we also discovered that the biology of the organisms that cause the world’s greatest suffering and death are more complex than many had imagined. At the recent annual meeting of the Washington Biotechnology and Biomedical Association, keynote speaker Elias Zerhouni, former head of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and a fellow at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, underscored this realization and concluded that much more work needs to be done to understand basic biology. A future challenge is to extract the key knowledge that from the large amounts of data that we’ve gained so that it can be put to use.
The advances in the past decade were accomplished during the period during which the NIH budget and a robust economy supported private research and development. The commitment of the Gates Foundation, financial and otherwise, shone a spotlight on the need to improve global health and led others—both scientists and funders—to engage in the battle especially on infectious diseases. An inflection point that rocked the infectious disease world was the bold call and associated commitment in October 2007 by Bill and Melinda Gates for the eradication of malaria. It was an act of faith that the combination of technology and personal commitment can make this happen. The “e” word was daunting to many, but is embraced by us at SBRI.
As we move begin this new decade, we’ll face and overcome the challenges of how to leverage progress and commitment during uncertain economic times. Some of these challenges may be met by novel approaches including how biomedical research is funded. Others may be addressed by exploring different ways in which organizations and sectors to work together.
The not-for-profit sector has a specific role to play in dealing with infectious diseases of global importance, because these diseases are, as a group, all neglected. As for-profit enterprises have focused primarily on chronic, non-communicable diseases because of market considerations, it’s our job to focus on need and the underserved and bring new solutions to bear within the next decade. One challenge we will need to face and overcome is how to develop more productive partnerships between the non- and for-profit sectors that will provide value for both.
Looking to 2020, we now have the challenge of expanding and building on the knowledge that was gained in the first 10 years of the new millennium and converting them into novel interventions that can be used to improve health in this country and around the world. The challenge of developing robust health solutions that can be delivered in resource constrained areas can show the way to provide local solutions at reduced costs. Necessity may drive invention but economics is likely to drive the use of resultant effective and efficient interventions. The solutions are within reach; we need to work together to bring them to fruition within the next decade.
