On June 14th the Biomedical Workforce Working
Group at the NIH released their draft report detailing the steps they recommend
the NIH take in the coming years to improve and support the personnel aspects
of biomedical research. The report which
can be found here http://acd.od.nih.gov/bmw_report.pdf
examines the involvement of the NIH in the financial support and training of
graduate students, postdoctoral trainees, staff scientists, and physician
scientists.
As pertains to postdocs the NIH working group makes several
recommendations, among them to:
·
Increase the number of training grant and
fellowship slots and decrease the number of postdocs supported by research
project grants in order to ensure that the postdoctoral period includes the
training and mentoring opportunities that are afforded by the former slot
types.
·
Start a pilot program for extramural funding of
training-based initiatives run by institutional postdoctoral offices
·
Increase stipend support to $42,000 per year
with 4% increases in years 2-3 and 6% increases for years 4-7 in order to
encourage PIs to move senior postdocs into more stable positions. This also
aims to reduce the years spent in the postdoctoral training period.
·
Ensure that NIH supported postdocs receive the
same benefits as all other employees at their institution.
·
Double the number of K99 and early independence
awards and make earlier career postdocs eligible for K99 awards.
·
Require individual development plans (IDPs) of
all NIH supported postdocs.
The
report also recommends that NIH study sections be encouraged to be receptive to
grant applications from staff scientists, an important step in the
professionalization of these ambiguous careers that fall in-between PI and
postdoctoral status.
Additionally,
the report recommends that institutions receiving NIH funding be required to
report and publically post career outcomes data of graduate and postdoctoral
trainees. This is much like recent
pushes for accountability of law schools to claims of student success;
publication of such data could be very useful to postdocs choosing between
different institutions.
You can also read about it in Science Careers: http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2012_06_22/caredit.a1200069
You can also read about it in Science Careers: http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2012_06_22/caredit.a1200069
While
the recommendations of the NIH working group are sure to garner much interest
this year, it is clear from the report that they may not be implemented simply
due to funding concerns. As always, NIH
funding remains of paramount interest in our community. The BSD Postdoctoral association public
affairs committee plans to keep you informed on the status of these recommendations
and on NIH funding issues in the future.
Please feel free to post a blog or otherwise comment on these
recommendations and other community wide concerns. What do postdocs at U of Chicago think are
the most important steps to sustaining and improving the biomedical workforce
and the postdoctoral experience? We
would love to hear your thoughts!
