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THE AMERICAS | A BRAIN DRAIN IN SCIENCE

Degree in hand, but no jobs back home

Many young Latin American scientists studying in the United States want to return home, but face daunting obstacles.

GERMANTOWN, Md. - Asked what they could do back in their native Chile, the four 30-something scientists talk about solving problems like the occasional ''red tide'' poisonings that can hit the fishing industry, or improving the forestry and mining industries.

But they say it will be difficult to return home after completing their research programs at the nearby National Institutes of Health, in a dilemma that is common to scores of Latin American scientists studying in the United States.

Scarce private-sector jobs and limited teaching slots or well-equipped research laboratories in their home countries are keeping most young Latin American scientists in the United States -- to the detriment of their home nations. A $130,000-plus salary at a U.S. biotech firm and the possibility of working alongside the vast network of U.S. scientists are often too good to resist.

''Those who return, go into academia,'' said Jorge Contreras, who at the NIH studies the movement of certain proteins in cell membranes. But with too many specialists chasing too few positions, he added, ``the system is becoming saturated.''

Contreras, one of the four Chilean scientists interviewed by The Miami Herald in this Washington suburb, pointed to a chart showing how just two Chilean universities gobbled up nearly 45 percent of the government's research grants in 2006.

SOME INCENTIVES

A few Latin American countries -- Chile among them -- have started programs to lure scientists back home after their stints studying in the United States and other countries.

But most of the Latin American biomedical scientists are expected to stay with U.S. institutions.

Cuban-born Arlyn García-Pérez knows the brain drain phenomenon first-hand. Raised in Puerto Rico, García-Pérez studied at MIT and Michigan State, then did cutting-edge work in renal physiology at the NIH in the 1980s. She chose to remain at the NIH, where she oversees postdoctoral programs.

''What was my choice? Stay at the Mecca of research, the NIH, or go back and struggle like crazy to try and set up in Puerto Rico?'' she said. ``For me, it was a no-brainer.''

She estimates that fewer than 20 percent of the 143 Latin Americans currently doing postdoctoral work at the NIH will return home.

HUGE BRAIN DRAIN

The brain drain is not new. World Bank studies from 2000 show that small and poor countries in Africa, the Caribbean and Central America suffer massive losses of brain power.

More than 83 percent of Haiti's most qualified workforce emigrates, and Cuba tops Latin America in the number of emigrated university-educated professionals, with 332,000.

The phenomenon is not limited to the poorest nations. Britain recorded the world's highest number of university-educated professionals who emigrated, with 1.4 million.

The influx of foreign talent keeps fueling the U.S. grip on scientific know-how. According to the World Bank, a 10 percent increase in the number of foreign graduate students raises patent applications by 4.7 percent in the United States.

And, notes García-Pérez, American-born scientists are in short supply.

''A career in science is something that takes a long commitment,'' she said.

In Chile's case, the brain drain has come with a twist. The country does not have a legacy of producing scientists of international caliber.

But a steady, thriving economy and political stability are producing a boom in new Ph.Ds.

CONICYT, the Chilean agency that finances academic investigations, awarded just 50 postgraduate scholarships in 1990. In 2005, it awarded 391 scholarships.

PROGRESS IN CHILE

The number of Ph.D. graduates from Chilean universities shot up from 75 in 1999 to 244 in 2004. More than half those new doctorates are in basic sciences.

And these degrees are not necessarily going to Chile's economic elites.

Contreras hails from a southern rural town of Chiguayante, where his father labored as a textile worker and his mother was a street vendor. Patricia Burgos, a fellow specialist on cell biology, is the daughter of a municipal worker in Riobueno, a small town in Chile's southern lake district.

Contreras is married to NIH researcher Frances Calderón, and Burgos to fellow biochemist Gonzalo Mardones.

`AN AWARENESS'

Burgos has become the unofficial spokeswoman for the Chilean scientists at NIH. She wants to ''create an awareness'' of their situation, and she is drawing up a list of fellow scientists who, like her, were funded by the Chilean government but ``are likely to stay here.''

Jorge and Frances Contreras received full Chilean government scholarships for the six years they spent studying for their doctorates at the Catholic University in Washington, plus a monthly living stipend of $1,500.

After their Ph.Ds., aspiring scientists usually spend several years doing postdoctoral work in Europe or at U.S. institutions such as the NIH.

The problem is that few countries can equal the scientific heft of the NIH, with 27 in-house institutes and centers that investigate everything from cancer cures to alcohol addiction. Its $28 billion annual budget equals one-quarter of Chile's gross domestic product.

A MAGNET INSTITUTION

This has made the NIH a magnet for young scientists worldwide. About two-thirds of the 3,800 post-doctoral researchers at NIH arrive through international programs, mostly from China, India and Japan, García-Pérez said.

She says some countries like Mexico and Chile are trying to lure their talent back, and the NIH can give grant money to foreign researchers who return home. She cites the case of Gerardo Gamba, a renowned Mexican kidney specialist who won an NIH grant to do work in Mexico.

One government program in Chile even pays for part of a scientist's starting salary at a private company.

The NIH is working with Chile to set up a program for five promising Chilean scientists, who would spend five years on the Bethesda campus before returning to Chile and a reserved university faculty position for two or three years. This would be the first such program with a Latin American country.

Burgos and Mardones want to return to Chile when their NIH fellowship ends in two years, but are skeptical they will find attractive options.

''Our decision will depend on the opportunities,'' Burgos said.