Personnel Needs and Training for Biomedical and Behavioral Research 1983 Report (1983) / Chapter Skim
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3. Basic Biomedical Sciences
3. Basic Biomedical Sciences
Pages 50-87
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From page 50... ...
,~ _ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Both short-term and long-term projections indicate the need to sustain tbe current level of support for both predoctoral and postdoctoral training in the basic biomedical sciences. INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW .In this chapter we discuss the national needs for research personnel in the basic biomedical sciences and the supply available to meet these needs.
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From page 51... ...
But the rate of growth in postdoctoral appointments appears to have slowed somewhat in 1% 1, and as the analyses in this chapter will show, there is reason to expect this growth to continue to moderate in the near future. As for enrollments in the basic biomedical sciences, it is clear that they have leveled off after a long period of steady growth since 1960.
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From page 53... ...
400 Aim RET IREFIGURE 3.1 Doctoral training system in the biomedical sciences. Estimates represent the average annual number of individuals following particular pathways during the 1973-81 period.
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From page 54... ...
Described on the following pages are the features of each phase that affect both the numbers and the quality of young investigators trained to fill the nation's need for research personnel in the basic biomedical sciences. Undergraduate Training Most of the undergraduates preparing for research careers in the basic biomedical sciences pursue baccalaureate programs in biology or chemistry, but some also receive their degrees in physics, mathematics, or a social science.
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From page 55... ...
55 independent investigator. Admission of students into graduate school is usually based on undergraduate grade point average, performance on the Graduate Records Examination (or a comparable test)
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From page 56... ...
Postdoctoral Training An estimated 60 percent of the Ph.D. recipients in the basic biomedical sciences now go on to postdoctoral appointments, and that percentage has been increasing steadily over the past 15 years.
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From page 57... ...
During the 1973-81 period the number of biomedical scientists holding postdoctoral appointments in universities has climbed at a reasonably constant rate of 9 percent per year -- significantly higher than the rate of growth for faculty. The net annual increments to the postdoctoral group have averaged approximately 420 scientists (Figure 3.2)
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From page 58... ...
Awards _ 3,838' Fi rst-Year Postdocs ~ 2,150 FISCAL YEAR FIGURE 3.2 Estimated growth in the numbers of Ph.D. awards, academic postdoctoral appointments, and first-year postdoctoral appointments in the biomedical sciences, 1973-81.
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From page 59... ...
The survey includes responses from a 15 percent sample of biomedical scientists who had earned their doctorates within the previous 43 years; responses have been weighted to provide population estimates. Factors Contnbuting to Postdoctoral Expansion The steady growth in the postdoctoral population in academia may be attributed primarily to two factors: an increase in the numbers of new Ph.D.
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From page 60... ...
recipients taking postdoctoral appointments immediately after graduation who still held training appointments 3, 4, and 5 years later. Recent graduates have typically held postdoctoral appointments for appreciably- longer periods of time.
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From page 61... ...
(The fraction of women holding postdoctoral appointments has risen slightly in recent years, along with an increase in the fraction of women earning biomedical science doctorates.) As many as 40 percent of the biomedical postdocs received their graduate training in biochemistry, molecular biology, or microbiology, and less than 5 percent held professional doctorates as well as Ph.D.
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From page 62... ...
None of these differences, however, are of sufficient magnitude to be considered of major import. Nor is there any evidence to suggest that graduates from the leading doctoral programs were more likely to prolong their postdoctoral apprenticeships than were other biomedical science Ph.D.
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From page 63... ...
What effect has this situation had on the careers of individuals completing their postdoctoral training in the biomedical sciences? To address this issue an analysis has been made of the 1975-81 employment situations of biomedical science Ph.D.
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From page 64... ...
~Thus, although the findings indicate that a significantly smaller proportion of biomedical science postdoctorate have moved on to university faculty-rank positions, the proportion continuing to pursue careers in research has not changed appreciably. Future Growth of the Postdoctoral Population We appear to be approaching a turning point in the size of the postdoctoral population.
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From page 65... ...
3,200 biomedical scientists. It is also projected that the number of new entrants to the postdoctoral population in academia will decline from 2,150 scientists (FY 1~ 0)
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From page 66... ...
CAREER OUTCOMES OF FORMER NIH PREDOCTORAL TRAINEES AND FELLOWS The Committee has undertaken a study to examine the career outcomes of biomedical scientists who had received NTH predoctoral training grant or fellowship support in the past 15 years. The primary intent of the study is to Identify the kinds of research positions available to and held by individuals completing [NIH training]
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From page 67... ...
Former NIH trainees were nearly 30 percent more likely than other biomedical science Ph.D. recipients to pursue postdoctoral research training, and 40 percent more likely to obtain NIH postdoctoral training Grant or fellowship support.
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From page 68... ...
THE MARKET OUTLOOK Having discussed the current market situation and given consideration to the issues surrounding predoctoral and postdoctoral training in the basic biomedical sciences, we turn now to an assessment of the near-term and long-term employment outlook for scientists in this area. Short-Term Projections of Academic Demand Since the academic sector has been and will probably continue to be the main focal point for basic biomedical research, we have paid particular attention to the analysis of this sector.
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From page 69... ...
0.08~ 3 ~ 0.07 To cat a Lot ~ 0.06 ~ 0.05 _I cat Ha:. to ~4 m 0.04 _ '',: 500 600 700 800 900 1,000 1,100 1,200 1,300 BIOMEDICAL SCIENCE R & D EXPENDITURES IN COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES (1972 $, mil 1 ions)
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From page 70... ...
exp(-ea bM) +C where: F = Ph.D.s employed by academic institutions in ~ bioscience fields (excluding postdoctoral trainees)
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From page 71... ...
) , Publ ic School s I tempt ( ~~ -- _ '~Private Schools 1 · 70 72 74 76 FISCAL YEAR 78 80 82 84 86 88 FIGURE 3.6 Total biomedical science undergraduate and graduate enrollments in colleges and universities, by control of institution, 1960-80, with projections to 1988.
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From page 72... ...
This year we have redefined it to exclude agriculture and have called it biomedical science" expenditures, which seems to be more directly relevant to the fields with which we are concerned.
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From page 73... ...
We project academic demand by using the most optimistic estimate of enrollment growth -- 2 percent per year (assumption A in Table 3.4 -- together with the estimated F/WS ratio of 0.083. This produces an upper estimate of faculty size of 48,500 bioscience Ph.D.s in 1988, for a faculty growth rate of 4.1 percent per year.
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From page 74... ...
t = 1/6(St + 2St 1 + 2St 2 + St 3) , where S = total graduate and undergraduate enrollments in biomedical fields; M = weighted average of last 3 years of biomedical science R and D expenditures in colleges and universities, i e;, Mt = 1/4(Rt + 2Rt 1 + Rt 2)
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From page 75... ...
Estimating Postcloctoral Support Levels Under NRSA Programs The final step in our quantitative analysis of the market is to attempt to translate the projections of academic demand into recommended levels of postdoctoral training under NRSA programs. This step requires certain additional assumptions about how the system has functioned in recent years with regard to postdoctoral training and its sources of support.
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From page 76... ...
Total annual academic TABLE 3.5 Estimated Number of Basic Biomedical Science Postdoctoral Trainees Needed to Meet Expected Academic Demand Through 1988 Under Vanous Conditions Projected Through 1988 High Middle Estimate Estimate 1,900 430 370 1,100 Low Estimate Annual Average 1979-81 2,797 .
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From page 77... ...
Entering academic employment between 1979 and 1981 in the biomedical sciences from: - % of Total N Accessions a. nonacademic sectors _~.
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From page 78... ...
If 70 percent of the trainees seek academic appointments after completing their training, then the necessary pool size must be 6,800. Line 6 shows the estimated number of biomedical science postdoctoral trainees that should be supported annually by NRSA programs under different assumptions about the proportion of total support provided by that source.
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From page 79... ...
Services 39 69 71 159 114 14.35to -15.3~c 9 Wholesale & Retail Trade 37 110 61 70 21 -6.8% -45.2% -2 Chemical and drugs 5 31 14 15 0 - - -1 Other 32 79 47 55 21 -5.1% -38.2% - -1 Finance,Insur.&RealEstate 52 50 25 36 122 11.2~o 84 loo 9 Services 388 413 389 534 814 9.7~O 23.5% 53 Medical 169 120 113 283 179 0.7% -20.5% 1 Other 219 293 276 251 635 14.2% 59.1% 52 Biotechnologya n/a n/a n/a 153 262 n/a 30~9% 55 (1979-81) Nonclassifiable Companies 279 469 584 1,155 1,465 23.0~o 12.6% 148 aThese are biomedical science Ph.D.s employed by firms that could be identified as being in Me biotechnology industry according to available directories for the industry.
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From page 80... ...
It seems clear that while industry may provide an increasing share of employment opportunities for biomedical scientists, the university s will still be counted on to provide most of the training. Surveyor Biotechnology Firms To learn more about the impact of the new biotechnology on The labor market for biomedical scientists, this Committee and the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment collaborated on a survey of the biotechnology industry.
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From page 81... ...
However, our survey results can provide some information on the number of scientists per firm and the specialties in which.they are employed. The majority of firms responding to our survey employed less than 10 biomedical science Ph.D.s.
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From page 82... ...
Comments from the respondents reveal how they feel about current and anticipated personnel shortages. Some examples are as follows: Cat the present time, we perceive that there is a def inite shortage of well-trained bioprocess engineer s and plant molecular biologists who have worked with microorganisms desirable for use in industr ial fermentation such as Bacillus, Streptococcus, and even, to some extent, Yeast..
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From page 83... ...
Furthermore, as biotechnology firms become more fully integrated, there will be an increased need for skilled technical support people; particularly in process development and manufacturing. This points out a clear need to continue our efforts toward improving university understanding of, and articulation with, developing biotechnology firms throughout the United States..
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From page 84... ...
Employment in the specialties of plant biology, industrial microbiology, and bioprocess engineering may also show large increases. Long-Term Considerations As already discussed in this chapter, increasing numbers of recent biomedical science graduates have found employment opportunities in research outside the academic sector.
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From page 85... ...
Illustrated in Figure 3.12 are estimates of annual attrition from the academic and nonacademic segments of the labor force during the 1~ 3-2001 period. As shown in the figure, the number of employment positions becoming available each year as a result of attrition is expected to be more than triple in the academic sector over the next 20 years and more than double in the nonacademic sectors.
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From page 86... ...
Nevertheless, even if the average retirement age were to increase by as much as 5 years, the annual loss from the biomedical labor force in the year 2001 would still be more than 2-1/2 times the size of the present attrition. What are the implications of these projections for future requirements for research personnel in the biomedical sciences?
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From page 87... ...
Consequently, there is an increased likelihood that further declines in Ph.D. output in the biomedical sciences will occur during the late 1980s, and throughout the l990s.
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