Despite the cliche of graduation not being the end but the beginning – the cliche is a truism for anyone who has spent a good deal of their adult life involved in academia. My years are still tied to the rhythm of the academic year. So June often seems like the “end” and September the “beginning.” And as I do every year – I have great plans to use the transition months of summer for ambitious projects. I hope use the months of July and August to read and educate myself about several new opportunities opening up in neurological disease research mainly because the failures accruing from the dogmatic directions have become undeniable. The predominant theories of neurodegenrative neurological disease research have been whittled away by a spate of recent findings such that the edifice may have finally become small enough to fail. And from the collapse comes opportunities for novelty and innovation. Good news for small funders – because it allows room for new ideas and smaller scale investments. When the status quo Goliath becomes a little unsteady on its feet, the Davids become emboldened. And philanthropy can provide the assistance needed to knock the giants off their feet. If we are brave.
No agendas, only honest talk at the intersection of science and society.