Post by Darian Carroll, PhD

This commentary made me smile. When I consider the impact that my career can have, I consistently land on philanthropy. The privilege to do good. Pre-World War 2, American science was primarily funded privately through universities and philanthropies like the Carnegie and Rockefeller Foundations. Consistent funding enables the kind of risky, seemingly uninteresting research that leads to scientific breakthroughs. In my own field, the Carnegie Foundation backed pioneering diabetes research, resulting in injectable insulin! How fortunate are we to live in a time where we know so much about the universe and nearly everyone can have access to that knowledge? Philanthropy is the bridge that can allow everyone who wants to be a scientist to participate.