NIH and NSF should support paid parental leave!

1. NIH and NSF should provide actual support for family initiatives, and other federal funding agencies should be mandated to follow suit. Specifically, NIH and NSF should allow for funds be used for salary support, even at a reduced amount (ex: 75%) for trainees (postdocs, graduate students, etc.) or PI’s for paid leave. A similar approach is applied by CIHR in Canada and should be implemented in the US immediately, otherwise their so-called Family-Friendly and Work-Life balance initiatives fall far short of actually supporting STEM parents, particularly women.