NCI bans all investigator initiated research at Frederick facility

Today, a trusted source within the National Cancer Institute at Frederick confirmed what I had been hearing rumors about for months.  All investigators at NCI-Frederick have been told to halt ALL research projects that were not handed down by the NCI main facility.  What does this mean?  It means that the NCI has essentially stripped over 100 principal investigators of their ability to investigate the scientific phenomena that they see fit to investigate.  The minds of these 100 PIs, not to mention that of their hundreds of postdocs have been effectively taken out of the battle against cancer.  This is a sad day for everyone at NCI-Frederick, as well as everyone in the field of cancer research.

The careers website at NCI-Frederick still lists 51 openings for postdoctoral fellows!  As I explain in my book, a Ph.D. or M.D. takes a Postdoc position to develop their skills as a scientist.  In exchange for earning very little money, postdocs get to design their own experiments and eventually their own research projects.  It is completely unethical for a facility that does not allow investigator-initiated research to continue to hire postdocs.