A seat at the table

I should start with a disclaimer: I was a strong supporter of Barack Obama during the recent US presidential campaign, and I remain a strong supporter of the President-elect today. That may open me to changes of bias as far as this particular column is concerned, because I'm going to be lauding one of his recent decisions. But another disclaimer I probably should include is that I am a life scientist, and that admission may reveal additional prejudice, because what I am going to say will be self-serving in that it is meant to promote the life sciences. However, I think my argument will stand up to objective scrutiny. See if you agree.