Achieving XXcellence in Science Role of Professional Societies in Advancing Women in Science: Proceedings of a Workshop (2004) / Chapter Skim
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Panel: Differences Between Basic and Clinical Disciplines
Panel: Differences Between Basic and Clinical Disciplines
Pages 43-54
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From page 43... ...
The issues facing women in clinical research differ from those affecting women in basic science research. Our belief is that by better understanding these differences, we'll provide a clearer understanding of the unique issues facing women in clinical research.
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From page 44... ...
Since 1991, she has been director of the Office of Women and Minority Affairs of the American Association of Dental Schools. I'm going to ask our panel to consider the differences between basic and clinical research pathways, and their ramifications.
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From page 45... ...
DR. SHAFER: Two images from my recent experience at the University of California San Francisco draw the contrast between basic research and clinical research in a way that is etched in my mind.
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From page 46... ...
If I do clinical research I'm taking time away from my clinician duties, and I'm never going to get promoted and tenured." So how can the professional societies help home institutions? How can we get that little credential of having done clinical research, perhaps sponsored by one of the professional societies, to counteract the negativity of less clinical revenue at the home institution?
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From page 47... ...
To summarize, the issue is to define what is meant by clinical research when you're trying to describe whether or not women are advancing in that area. Then you need to reward those components that do not necessarily lend themselves to the same measurement criteria used for promotion in basic science activities.
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From page 48... ...
If they're going to get money to support their research, then they must find a way to develop those skills or be able to call on the infrastructure within their institution to help them write appealing and competitive grant applications. At a summit held last year we brought together all the 55 dental school deans from across the country, with their chancellors and their presidents, to talk about enhanced clinical research within their institutions across disciplines and within the health science centers.
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From page 49... ...
So this process allows clinical researchers to actually take leadership roles that are well defined for promotion committees and to achieve first-author publications -- not in Science and Nature, but certainly in the New England Journal of Medicine and the Journal of the American Medical Association. It's hard to put this track in place where the culture's not there, but the track is well defined.
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From page 50... ...
For the last decade, we have brought funded junior investigators to this meeting. About three years ago, the clinical research centers brought in the K-23 and K-24 award recipients (K-23s are mentored junior investigator training grants, and so they are in the name of the recipient, the mentee; K-24s are more senior)
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From page 51... ...
Wara was sponsored by five foundations working in collaboration: the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Howard Hughes, Robert Wood Johnson, and Juvenile Diabetes. Each foundation was receiving funding requests from multiple clinical research societies for duplicative activities.
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From page 52... ...
And to comment elsewhere, certainly clinical trials are only a small part of clinical research. I usually like to describe the continuum of research as laboratory, clinical, and public health.
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From page 53... ...
I was happy that at the NIH some of the new grant mechanisms they established in connection with the clinical research thrust included some faculty support for mentoring. Mentoring should be a criterion perhaps for promotion, or for tenure, or for financial incentives.
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From page 54... ...
54 ACHIEVING XXCELLENCE IN SCIENCE mentors on-site and then contacts around the country through societies and such-can make all the difference in whether a person feels nurtured and is able to blossom into a real scientist. Finally, when we ask whether we should turn to societies or universities in dealing with the problems, I suggest that we look for some way to convene the leadership of several entities -- the NIH, the universities, the societies, the pharmaceutical companies -- to say, all right, there's something that each one of us could do.
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