By , ,
Published September 19, 2018
Like many Americans, watching the unfolding drama resulting from the shifts in U.S. immigration policy – families torn apart at our borders, parents deported back to dangerous areas without their children, toddlers crying for their mothers from detention facilities – was a profound experience, whatever your policy perspective, of witnessing lives disrupted, dreams abandoned and families divided.
As president of the Lasker Foundation, an organization devoted to advancing medical research excellence since 1945, I was curious as to what impact immigrants have had on biomedical science. How has medicine been impacted by the historic waves of migration to America’s shores?
I discovered that more than 60 winners of the Lasker Award for basic science or clinical research were immigrants, including the co-recipient of the 2018 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award, Michael Grunstein, a Romanian-born child of Holocaust survivors. These scientists – leaving their homelands to search for a better life – made profound contributions to research, enriched our understanding of medicine and brought the promise of a healthier world.
Many of these Lasker Laureates came to the U.S. as children:
We can only imagine the loss to the world had these immigrant scientists been returned to their countries of origin instead of finding hope, purpose and opportunity in America.
As President Lyndon Johnson pointed out, “America was built by a nation of strangers. From a hundred different places or more they have poured forth into an empty land, joining and blending in one mighty and irresistible tide. The land flourished because it was fed from so many sources – because it was nourished by so many cultures and traditions and peoples.”
With its culture of entrepreneurism, innovation and creativity, America has long been a beacon of opportunity for science. In fact, some of our Lasker Laureates came to the US because the best scientific training could be obtained in our universities.
Others came because of job opportunities that allowed them to make the best use of their passion and expertise:
The list goes on. Their paths to our country were diverse, but all made deep and lasting contributions.
Because America’s doors were open these many decades – and with that, because there was opportunity for scientific excellence and innovation to thrive – we have a better understanding of the human brain, a deeper grasp of the workings of the immune system, and treatment advances ranging from vaccines to antibiotics to cardiac drugs that have saved millions of lives.
Open doors create the opportunity for sometimes unforeseen medical-science brilliance to flourish, and when that happens, we all benefit.
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/lasker-foundation-president-when-america-opens-its-door-science-benefits