Whaddaya mean, "no payline", Varmus?

Holy crapoli on a cannoli!

I missed the webcast of Harold Varmus’ recent townhall and it doesn’t appear to be up yet on the web. [UPDATE: Here’s the videocast] But a commenter named lula over at writedit’s pad says:

Although not is as many words, Varmus said that there will not be a payline for the NCI in FY2011. He indicated that funding selection will be made in a case by case basis with input from program leaders, and taking into consideration programmatic priorities, etc. The only number that he put out there was 7%, by means of suggesting that grants within this or lower percentiles would be funded; honestly he sounded unconvincing (and unconvinced) about the whole process and a bit at loss on how to explain it. He also reiterated the NCI’s commitment to NI/ESI but without any specifics.

This was affirmed by another commenter.

Have we sunk down so far that there is no point in having a payline? Will Program staff be making their priority decisions for *everything* at NCI?

The thinkin' chair

This question is mostly for the PIs in the audience. Now, I know about your trips to the coffee shop to hide out from your lab member’s quotidian interruptions that can blow your day if you aren’t careful. Not talking about that. When you are in your office do you ever sit elsewhere than in front of your computer workstation?

I need to do that more. Sit across the room with a document, manuscript, paper..or even nothing. Just sit and think quietly.

I don’t do enough of that.