A healthy investment

Jo Wiederhorn responds to a New York Daily News editorial: Investing in biomedical research is indeed smart (“Death by a thousand cuts,” editorial, May 18). As federal funding has declined, however, other states have recognized the wisdom of investing in research. California, Texas and Massachusetts are spending billions to grow their bioscience sectors, and are targeting New York’s best scientific minds for recruitment. Texas poached 13 of our star scientists in the past four years. Last year, Gov. Cuomo committed $650,000 in the state budget to recruit biomedical researchers, an important first step. But if New York is to remain a global leader in the biosciences, more needs to be done. Jo Wiederhorn, Associated Medical Schools of New York