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Originally Posted by Roland98
I guess that "AIDS elite" group has it better than we ordinary microbiologists.
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Well, things have evened out a bit lately, but when HIV research was the "Big Thing", NIH was giving out plenty of money to researchers who probably had no business receiving it ... merely because they proposed to work on HIV and AIDS related research. At least that's what I was told from two of my ex-committee members. Same thing happened (is happening) with bioterrorism and on a smaller scale it happened with genomics, though TIGR managed to practically monopolize that corner of funding, at least for bacterial genomes. I doubt any of us can say that NIH funding isn't, at least in part, granted with a "you help me, I'll help you" attitude because academic buddies/friends are often on grant review committees and it's not a blind/unbiased process. There is plenty of politics in science. Unfortunately.
Overall, I would say that if you're working with one of the "hot topics" there are more opportunities for funding. Doubt that translates into pate and champagne at meetings though.
In summary, at least in US research efforts,
some money has been wasted by sub-par researchers, but in the long run I do not think it has made a significantly detrimental impact on the way HIV and AIDS treatment has occured worldwide.