national Institutes of Health-sponsored initiatives in PhD - traning in the US

Associate Member of ORPHEUS

National Institutes of Health sponsored initiatives in Ph.D.

training in the U.S. – enhancing outcome and impact

Joey Barnett, Ph. D.Acting Chair, Dept. of Pharmacology

Assistant Dean for Physician-Researcher TrainingVanderbilt University School of Medicine

NIH BEST* Awards

Increasing Rigor and Reproducibility

https://www.nigms.nih.gov/Pages/default.aspx

*Broadening Experiences in Scientific Training

How the NIH BEST Grants Approach

Training for Alternative Careers

Broadening Experience in Scientific Training

Structure of the Presentation

• Overview on Biomed Research workforce.

• The BEST Consortium, nationwide.

• Vanderbilt BEST (ASPIRE) Program.

Overview on Biomed Research workforce

Is there an overproduction of Biomed PhDs?

Of course there is!

Absolutely not!

What governs the Composition and Size of the Biomed workforce?

• The Biomed Workforce is made up of graduate students and postdocs.

• The number of these individuals is governed by the NIH extramural Budget, currently about $30B. The specific driver is RO1 support (ca. $18B).

• It is hard to see this increasing in the next decade.

Doctorate Degrees Awarded in the Biological and Medical Sciences by Ethnicity (US Citizens and Permanent Residents Only)

Source: http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/doctorates/

0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000

8,000

9,000

10,000Other U.S, Citizens & Permanent ResidentsAmerican Indian or Alaska NativeHispanic/ LatinoBlack/ African-American (non-Hispanic/ Latino)Asian or Pacific Islander-CombinedWhite (non-Hispanic/ Latino)

Baseline: PhD Student Career Goals

35.2%

16.6%

0.0%0.5%

19.3%

0.0%3.2%

0.0%

0.2%

0.0%

0.0%0.7%0.2%0.9%

0.0%

0.9%

22.3%

at Entry

33.6%

13.8%

1.4%0.7%

14.7%

5.4%

5.7%

1.8%3.2%

2.5%2.3%

1.8%1.8%

1.8%

1.4%0.9%

7.3%

Faculty position in academia (primarily research)Faculty position in academia (primarily teaching)Faculty position in academia (research & teaching)Faculty positionIndustry (research position)Industry (non‐research position)Government or nonprofit lab (research position)Government or nonprofit lab (non‐research position)Science or medical writing/editing/publishingResearch position ‐ sector undecidedScience policyPatent lawScience outreach/K‐12 education/teachingOtherClinical laboratory research / administrationPhysician or physician‐scientistUndecided

at Exit

The Broadening Experiences in Scientific Training (BEST) Consortium

NIHBEST.orgFollow Consortium Tweets at: Twitter.com/NIHBEST

#NIHBEST

Broadening Experiencesin Scientific Training

UC Davis

UC San Francisco

UC Irvine

University of Colorado Denver|Anschutz Medical

Campus

Michigan State University

Wayne State University

University of Rochester

Cornell University

University of MassachusettsMedical School

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Rutgers University

New York University

Boston University

University of North Carolina Chapel Hill

Emory University & Georgia Tech

Vanderbilt University

University of Chicago

National Committee Recommendations

Spurred by several national committees recommending support for graduate and postdoctoral training, the National Institutes of Health established a committee to review issues of concern in PhD and postdoctoral education and training and one of their recommendations was: development of NIH BEST Programs

Initial goals:

1. Develop sustainable approaches to broaden graduate and postgraduate training.

2. Encourage diverse scientific careers, not just be focused on pursuing an academic faculty career.

3. Provide broad institutional support and faculty engagement, as well as engagement of external partners representing diverse careers.

4. Designed to be a series of experiments aimed at identifying a range of the most effective practices to support the career development of all trainees.

Common BEST Consortium Programmatic Elements

A. Career Development Skills: Understanding career options, self‐reflections, making use of Individual Development Plans (IDP), networking, and job search skills.

B. Professional Development Skills: Team building, time management, oral and written communication, self‐reflection and cognitive assessment of leadership, conflict, and negotiation skills.

C. Experiential Learning: Brief intensive experiences with partners outside of the University (e.g. biotechnology, science writing) or, within the University.

D. Mentorship: Primary research advisor as well as peer mentoring and/or connecting to alumni and professionals in their career(s) of interest.

Meyers et al., 2016 FASEB J

Meyers et al., 2016 FASEB J

BEST Training Paradigm Differences are Based on Variations in Experimental Design at Different Institutions

Variations in:I. ScopeII. Trainee TargetIII. Programmatic ElementsIV. FacultyV. Partners

Pros and Cons of Testing and Evaluating Novel Career Development Training Paradigms

Pros:1. Increased (and widespread)

support for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows’ overall professional career development

2. Widespread acceptance and awareness of these efforts

3. Generate a productive student and postdoctoral trainee environment

4. Elimination of some of the cynicism element which currently pervades the U.S. Biomedical Workforce

Cons:1. Although there is evidence that

faculty support is increasing, more work needs to be done

2. Professional career development represents a significant cost investment, which will need to be maintained after funding ends

At the end of the NIH BEST Grant Experiment, we hope to have established that:

1. Training at U.S. institutions will value a commitment to development of higher levels of research skills as well as a full exposure to and education in preparing for a broader and diverse range of careers, which benefit from PhD and postdoctoral training.

2. This will be accomplished by the establishment of high caliber Offices of Professional Career Development at all U.S. research institutions focused on graduate and postdoctoral education.

3. Truth in Recruiting will become widespread, offering forthright information about career outcomes during PhD recruiting activities.

4. PhD and postdoctoral scientists will perform research for the intellectual challenge of scientific discovery, not because of a linear career path to a faculty job.

5. Recognition and support for the fact that not focusing on a faculty career is not viewed as failure as a creative scientist.

Vanderbilt BEST (ASPIRE) Program*

*funded by a BEST grant from the NIH Office of the Director, DP7OD018423

Augmenting Scholar Preparation and Integration with Research‐Related Endeavors

VU ASPIRE program team

Roger Chalkley,

SeniorAssociateDean for

BRET (PI)

Kathy Gould,AssociateDean for

Biomedical Sciences (PI)

Kate Stuart,ProgramManager

for Office of Career

Development

Kim Petrie,Director of

the Office of CareerDevelopment (PI)

Ashley Brady,Director of

Career EngagementAnd StrategicPartnerships


Vanderbilt ASPIRE initiative

Broaden training experiences so trainees are empowered to make well-informed career

decisions with confidence.

StagingExploration Phase Enhancement PhaseIMPACT Phase

Evaluation

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Year 6

ASPIRE program activities

skills

valuesinterests

Short course on career planning and career decision making• Self-assessment• Learn career options• Develop a plan

ASPIRE to Plan

ASPIRE to Connect

Beyond the Lab

ASPIREmodules

Externships/Internships


Workshop about building professional relationships

Etiquette and advice for meeting new people and maintaining meaningful connections

ASPIRE to Plan

ASPIRE to Connect

Beyond the Lab

ASPIREmodules


Welcome Keynote AddressAshley Brady

Breakout Session 1

Breakout Session 2

Breakout Session 3

Plenary SpeakerLauren Celano, Propel Careers

Networking Reception

Participants chose three:

Navigating Professional Conferences

Big Help for Small Talk

Leveraging LinkedIn

Acing the Interview

Media Training for Real Life

Identifying and Exploring Your Network

partnered with The Graduate School and International Student

& Scholar Services

ASPIRE to Connect (A2C)



Video interviews with alumni about their career

ASPIRE to Plan

ASPIRE to Connect

Beyond the Lab

ASPIREmodules


Beyond the Lab• Alumni Interviews• Different Career Fields• Published on YouTube



Short-courses in:1) Business & entrepreneurship2) Communication3) Clinical research4) Teaching

ASPIRE to Plan

ASPIRE to Connect

Beyond the Lab

ASPIREmodules


ASPIRE Modules 2014-2015

• Launched 6 modules

• Over 140 trainees participated

• Overwhelmingly positive feedback

• All modules to be offered again for 2016- 2017



Externships: Short-term company site visit or job shadowing experience

Internships: Professional, hands-on experience (including teaching)

ASPIRE to Plan

ASPIRE to Connect

Beyond the Lab

ASPIREmodules


Are trainees aware of ASPIRE?• March 2015 survey of PhD Students & Postdocs

• 93% knew about ASPIRE


Who has participated in ASPIRE?• March 2015 survey of PhD Students & Postdocs• 159 (59%) attended at least one ASPIRE event

• 65% PhD students• 70% female• 95% U.S. citizens or permanent residents• 14% Underrepresented minorities


Broadening Experiencesin Scientific Training

UC Davis

UC San Francisco

UC Irvine

University of Colorado Denver|Anschutz Medical

Campus

Michigan State University

Wayne State University

University of Rochester

Cornell University

University of MassachusettsMedical School

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Rutgers University

New York University

Boston University

University of North Carolina Chapel Hill

Emory University & Georgia Tech

Vanderbilt University

University of Chicago

Big Experiment!

NIH BEST Awards

Increasing Rigor and Reproducibility

https://www.nigms.nih.gov/Pages/default.aspx

Rigor and Reproducibility

Rigor and Reproducibility

Upcoming Requirements

Current T32 Supplements

Experimental Design Course

13 – 2 hour sessions

Measurement

Variables Specificity

Sensitivity

Sample Size

Statisical Tests

Hypothesis

Aurgument

Independent

Reasoning

Deductive

Inductive

Dependent

Biostats Walk-in Clinics

Daily 12:00-1:15 pm

Biostats Walk in Clinics

Monday Health Services Research, Diagnosis, and Prognosis(comparative effectiveness & observational

Research)

Tuesday High-Dimensional Data (imaging, high throughput assays)

Wednesday Surgery, Anesthesiology, and Emergency & Critical Care Medicine

Thursday Clinical and Health Research

Friday Basic and Animal Research (not omics)

*some special topic days monthly, i.e. HIV themed research

REDCap is a web application for building and managing onlinesurveys and databases. You may create and design projects using:

1) the online method from your web browser using the OnlineDesigner;

2) the offline method by constructing a 'data dictionary' template filein Microsoft Excel, which can be later uploaded into REDCap.

Both surveys and databases (or a mixture of the two) can be builtusing these methods.

REDCap provides automated export procedures for seamless datadownloads to Excel and common statistical packages (SPSS, SAS,Stata, R), as well as a built-in project calendar, a scheduling module,ad hoc reporting tools, and advanced features, such as branchinglogic, file uploading, and calculated fields.

Labnodes is a platform that "connect the dots"between people, communities, resources &publications, and is a single site for accessingresources available at Vanderbilt.

Centers, groups, and individual laboratoriesshare resources (animal models, cells lines, orreagents), best practices for data acquisition &analysis for specific applications, and providescontact information for local experts.

Assessment

Probe competency and attitudes aroundexperimental design and data management.

Re-probe at the end of the semester andjust prior to the granting of the Ph.D.

Track the use of the biostatistics “walk-in”clinic, REDCap, and labnodes throughouttraining.

What do we hope to attain?

Provide the tools and expertise to increaserigor and reproducibility.

Change the culture to support bestpractices in design and management.

Identify and disseminate effective tools tothe broader scientific community.

Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN USA

Education

national Institutes of Health-sponsored initiatives in PhD - traning in the US