Career development: Summary
Clin Invest Med 1997;20(4):277-278
The problems of launching a new career clinician scientist into a clinical department -- with the dual responsibilities of setting an independent research program and integrating into the culture of the department -- have been recognized for some time. To facilitate this transition period and allow the new clinician scientist to become an "established" investigator, participants suggested development of a new transition phase between training and the full assumption of clinician scientist responsibility (also known as a "super-postdoc" or "junior faculty" position). This position would ensure:
- time protection,
- equitable salary support and
- mentoring.
Examples of existing funded programs targeted to this phase of the career development of clinician scientists are the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research (AHFMR) Clinician Investigator Award and the MRC Clinician Scientist Award Phase II programs. To implement this recommendation there is a clear requirement for a partnership among department chairs, deans and granting agencies. Salary equity is best dealt with by financial policies and practice plans that allow for intradepartmental equity among clinicians scientists and clinicians in various specialties and subspecialties. It is necessary to define clearly the role of the clinician scientist and to establish measures of success for use in performance evaluation and analysis of follow-up data.
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Monitoring and mentoring
A formal strategy for monitoring the initial appointment and reappointment of clinical scientists should include:
- Establishment of a small committee that would be responsible for mentoring the investigator and monitoring his or her success. This committee should include the department chair and appropriate research, clinical and academic mentors.
- Upon initial appointment, the clinician scientist and the departmental chair should clearly agree upon research goals and collaborations, publication expectations, grant application, time management and professional commitments.
- The availability of an established research environment should be assessed and agreement reached as to how the new appointee can make use of this environment and how established research groups can support the new appointee, by sharing the use of facilities and personnel, and through research mentoring.
- This committee should meet regularly for a minimum of 5 years after recruitment to address concerns and review the appointee's track record. These reviews may be used as the basis for determining the appointee's continued job description as well as a means of garnering information concerning the success rate of training and career development strategies for clinician scientists.
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Recruitment and salary equity
- Universities must work with the university-
associated hospital medical departments to establish standards for a more equitable and uniform system for the remuneration of clinician scientists within the institution as a whole.
- Establish, as part of the accreditation process, review of the recruitment policy and practice, and institute pay equity.
- Advertise academic jobs in biomedical research widely throughout Canadian universities.
- Ensure that search committees for academic research positions review all candidates without gender bias or any form of discrimination.
- Ensure that women and men receive equal financial support for equal job descriptions, with open disclosure of remuneration within departments and institutes.
- Departments and institutes must ensure no gender bias in teaching loads, clinical duties, protected time, laboratory space or start-up research funds.
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Time protection
- Time protection should generally be increased. This should be discussed in detail by the new clinician scientist and the department chair upon initial hiring. Increase in time protection may vary from 75% research and 25% clinical to 100% research commitment over the initial years of appointment. There was agreement that clinician scientists should be expected to contribute continually to the activities of their clinical department. Of necessity, this clinical exposure should be highly focused yet provide opportunities for clinician scientists to contribute their research expertise to the academic life of their division or department. This allotment should be carefully evaluated to balance the requirement for establishment of a viable independent research program with the need to remain accomplished in a clinical specialty/subspecialty.
- Both the clinician scientist and the department chair should regularly review involvement in tasks not directly related to initial career goals and the clinician scientist should be actively mentored and supported in saying "no" to administrative and teaching duties that erode commitment to these goals.
- Department chairs, deans and granting agencies need to form a partnership to implement the recommendations concerning time protection. Granting agencies should review their time protection requirements for receiving a personal salary support award (e.g., MRC scholarship or scientist).
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Gender issues
As indicated in the Introduction, these recommendations were not discussed in open forum at the retreat but originated from a symposium and panel discussion held the next day at the University of Toronto.
- Incorporate into the accreditation process review of departmental and faculty policies and practices to remove gender-based obstacles to career development.
- Assess the gender-based obstacles to career success of women trainees and faculty members and establish long-term intervention strategies to address these issues.
- Establish women's issues committees in every department and institute to meet the needs of women in academia continually. The chairs of these committees should be full members of the executive, who advise the departmental chairs and institute directors.
- Enhance the promotion of women to leadership roles in departments, institutes and faculties.
- Establish uniform policy for maternal/parental leaves. For women faculty in biomedical research, the system should be tailored to adequately meet the needs of child-bearing and should include:
- Flexible, part-time or shared tenure-track (or equivalent) positions with options for re-entry into full-time status.
- Increased time to achievement of tenure or promotion, accommodating appropriate parental leave.
- Maternity leave jointly offered and financial supported by granting agencies and departments. On request, the equivalent of up to 6 months of personal salary and reasonable compensation for laboratory and personnel costs (matched to peer-reviewed grants held) should be offered. The external agencies and the department should contribute equally to this bridge-funding package. Automatic delay in the time for renewal of peer-reviewed grants would allow the scientist time to recover from the early months of child-rearing before returning to full-time academic engagement.
- A written code of conduct emphasizing the necessity for zero tolerance of psychological abuse, discrimination on the basis of gender and sexual harassment must be widely publicized in all departments and institutes.
- Issues relating to this code of conduct should be incorporated in formal and informal curricula, participatory research and evaluations of students and faculty.
- An institutional office, accessible to all students and faculty, should be established and promoted to deal confidentially with problems of abuse, discrimination and harassment.
