CPRIT needs aggressive treatment
Copyright 2012: Houston Chronicle | Wednesday, October 31, 2012
"A wise and experienced friend said to me: This is always how it works when you put a large amount of public money on the table," scientist Gilman told the Chronicle. "The vultures and the hyenas lie low for two or three years. And then they come in for their feast. The M.D. Anderson grant was the first course of that feast."
The politically appointed oversight committee mealy-mouths that it's "regrettable" the scientists weren't comfortable with their leadership. And its members seem neither abashed nor sorry. Jimmy Mansour, head of the governing board, responded to an email about the scientists' exodus with apparent glee: "Better to get them all out of the way now," he wrote. (Whoops - gotta watch that "reply all" button.) Executive director Gimson admits he'd treat the M.D. Anderson grant differently now, but denies any deeper problem at the agency.
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The best thing Gimson and CPRIT's board could do for the institute would be to resign. Only with a new executive director and an impeccable, science-oriented board can CPRIT regain the ground it's lost.
We also urge the Texas Legislature to investigate, as soon as possible, whether CPRIT's administrators and board members violated the public trust. We expect the Legislature to write workable rules to govern CPRIT - rules that emphasize science and fair play, and that keep the vultures away from the feast.
We understand calls to disband the agency, rather than to risk that the $2 billion remaining in that bond could disappear into dicey drug-commercialization schemes cooked up by politically connected cronies. But we believe the agency's noble goal - fighting cancer - is too important to give up.
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