Focusing Energy on Biomedical Engineering, Imaging, and Informatics Research

In his viewpoint paper,1 Dr. Hendee asserts that research in biomedical engineering, imaging, and informatics is “relatively” underfunded. Progress in key well-funded research areas—such as genetics, structural biology, and neuroscience—critically depends on progress in biomedical engineering, imaging, and informatics. Hendee concludes that the NIH should create a new institute or center to nurture these three domains. Such an institute would support fundamental research, coordinate activities throughout the federal government, educate and train investigators, and diffuse tools and techniques into research efforts of other institutes. I agree that the future success of the biomedical research enterprise depends on optimized interaction among the biomedical sciences, engineering, biomedical informatics, and the foundation provided by mathematics, computer …