And so, done. The former fighter pilot, at odds with his own party, faced a newcomer with no legislative record, the latter riding the crest of disapproval of the incumbent president. And, despite 22 months of campaigning, policy decisions will rest more in the hands of entrenched party interests. As they often say in New York, “So what? Now what?” Many of those in medical academia have been turning blue for years awaiting the revival of the Democrats. This party has historically been the major underwriters for the NIH (National Institutes of Health), itself the principal support for what are essentially federal medical (nominally private) universities. Neither candidate articulated support for research or clinical matters, other than private insurance or more federal control. With the sudden reverses in the economic boom, academia may prove low on the rescue list.

So, post-election, whither (maybe wither?) the clinical neurosciences? Well behind cancer (National Cancer Institute, $2547 million) and Heart (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Instiute, $153 million), the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS, $781 million) uses more than 90% of its funding for extramural …