The Wichita region has opportunities to participate in all areas of the state’s bioscience effort, Tom Thornton, president and CEO of the Kansas Bioscience Authority, told The Eagle editorial board this week. That’s good to hear, given that the initiative has seemed mostly focused on northeast Kansas. But our region needs to be aggressive in seizing those opportunities.
The authority announced this week that it was helping fund an eminent scholar position at Wichita State University and Via Christi’s Orthopaedic Research Institute. The authority may also choose Wichita this year for a biomaterials center for innovation. And Thornton said Wichita could play a key part in bioenergy development and health care clinical trials. Wichita’s strength, Thornton said, is the collaboration between WSU researchers and “customers†such as aviation companies and the medical community.
4 Comments
With all of the advances aviation materials research already being done in Wichita it would seem to be a natural to extend that to biomaterials research. I also agree that with our major hospitals we can and should be a leader in health care clinical research.
I submit that wxcellence in research will benefit Wichita State University infinitely more than football.
Couldn’t agree more, Ben.
That said, thanks to Sen. Sam “Science Schmience, If My Bible Is Threatened Then Render Unto Science A Big Fat No Can Fund” Brownback it’s pretty unlikely that even NE Kansas will ever see a major bioscience initiative, certainly a primary-research initiative, funded at the federal level.
It may be enough, but no matter how smart and innovative the scientists attracted to Kansas by such a program, neither Lawrence nor Wichita will never be Baltimore (ie, John Hopkins).
American taxpayers outside Kansas aren’t usually so forgiving of using tax dollars to fund research destined to be shitcanned — or edited by a Republic FDA — if a logical finding of that research might somehow threaten the current version of some politician’s bible (there are no Luthers in today’s GOP).
In other words, as long as Kansas reelects a Senator who’s willing to kill science that he deems “in conflict” with his bible, then the USA ain’t likely to reward Kansas with a federal grant to fund primary research.
It’s a tough world out there, we all just live in it.
Unfortunately any such eminent WSU scholar will probably end up counting either his toes or abortion records (take your pick) before he counts precisely those combinations of carefully planned events which cannot be explained by random error…no matter how significant the conclusion one might logically reach from a perfect counting.
Wow. I like the new preview functionality, but despite it I sure can screw up a sentence when the page fails to load automatically my email address.
“It may be enough, but no matter how smart and innovative the scientists attracted to Kansas by such a program, neither Lawrence nor Wichita will never be Baltimore (ie, John Hopkins).”
Should be:
No matter how smart and innovative the scientists attracted to Kansas by such a program, thanks to Sam neither Lawrence nor Wichita will ever be Baltimore (ie, John Hopkins).
The biggest problem is KU. They want to be everything to everyone without being an expert on anything. KU has messed up the medical school in Wichita. Kansas will be losing doctors (there is already a shortage) but they don’t seem to care. Now they want to send our doctors to Missouri and pay for them with Kansas tax dollars. It is all about KU not healthcare in Kansas.
Dr. Roy Jensen and Dr. Barbara Adkinson along with Hemenway have become the biggest bullies in the state. Because of them Kansas will never be given the recognition it deserves in the area of health.