Who will be ahead in medical research? U.S. or China
Grace Palma, CEO of China Med Device
On my flight to China, my seat mate is a Harvard Medical School professor specializing in stem cell research. We were talking about differences of research in the US and China. We mutually agreed to the following:
- Chinese government has given research labs resources, poising them to do great science. NIH grant funding in the US is shrinking, although this year there was a significant increase in NIH budget.
- Research labs in China have resources to purchase the latest and best equipment. Government provides labs with the latest equipment. On the other hand, research labs in the U.S. must buy their own equipment with their research grants. Research labs even at leading institutions like Harvard have equipment from 10 years ago or use of new equipment through core facilities can be expensive to utilize.
- Chinese post docs or researchers are excellent dedicated workers. They are good at execution and follow directions well. They are still working on independent thinking and initiatives.
- Post docs in general sometimes believe they are better than their teachers. US and European postdocs though tend to be better trained to be creative and adventurous.
These comments may be a little stereotypical but there is truth based on my 20+ years of medical device commercial experience between the U.S. and China. With the global education and research exchanges, China will be ahead in 10 years or so to bring these research results to commercial success. It could be shorter but other factors such as regulatory approval, preclinical and clinical. This is my gut guess.
Source: China Med Device
