I am a geneticist working in cancer research in Seattle, Washington. For the past few weeks, I have been in India to meet with early career scientists and physicians, their mentors, and their supporters in government. I’ve heard creative research ideas from young, intelligent and dedicated people at the Cancer Institute in Chennai, the National Centre for Biological Sciences and the Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology in Bengaluru, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi, and the National Institute of Biomedical Genomics in Kolkata. As fellow scientists, we’ve discussed how modern genomics technology can assist our research and its application to public health. We’ve shared enthusiasm for the rapid progress of science in India. We’ve made plans for collaborations. At an awards ceremony in Delhi, we celebrated prizes to Indian PhD students for the most outstanding original research carried out in India and published in international scientific literature. At the ceremony, some students accepted their prizes in person while others sent their parents or friends as representatives, since they are in the U.S. as postdoctoral fellows.
During this idyllic trip came the appalling news of engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla’s murder. My first reaction was as a mother, of the unfathomable shock of having let one’s child go out into the world, to grow up and do well — only to be killed by a crazed bigot who should never have been allowed near a gun. We read that others on the scene reacted well, that the suspect was quickly caught and that the authorities expressed outrage and sorrow and tendered their apologies. All this was appropriate. As an American, I also send my profound apologies to the Kuchibhotla family and to all Indian families. But as any parent would know, apologies will never be enough.
Citizens of the world
So, what next? Every Indian family will take its own decision whether the U.S. at present is too dangerous for its children. If I were an Indian mother, would I let my daughter go to the U.S. or stay in the U.S. if she were already there? I’m not sure. Probably, because our children follow their own ambitions and these ambitions often take them far away for some time. But I would be terribly concerned. Despite these fully justifiable concerns, I hope your children will continue to come to the U.S. and those there will not flee for home. Young Indian scientists working in the U.S. are advantaged by what they learn, the U.S. is advantaged by their skills, India is advantaged by the new knowledge they bring home, and science and medicine are advantaged by all of us working together. Scientists are citizens of the world. If your children come to us for a time to pursue their scientific careers, we will protect them as we do our own. We will do our best for your children, as you would do for ours. Thank you for welcoming me to your country.
Mary-Claire King is Professor of Medicine and Genome Sciences, University of Washington
