“Overstretched & Overlooked: Solving challenges faced by early-career scientists after the pandemic”

TheoryLab

A new publication by six current and former American Cancer Society grantees describes the challenges faced by early-career investigators as a result of the pandemic and offers recommendations “to help institutions and individuals develop effective strategies to promote success and career advancement.” They joined the TheoryLab podcast to talk about key takeaways from their article, which “highlights the aftermath of the pandemic on work–life balance, promotion, tenure, funding, networking, and mentoring, and make recommendations that can help remediate these problems.” “Overstretched and overlooked: solving challenges faced by early-career investigators after the pandemic” was published in the journal Trends in Cancer: (https://www.cell.com/trends/cancer/fulltext/S2405-8033(21)00158-8) 3:41 – Brock Humphries, PhD, is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan. Priscilla Hwang, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in Biomedical Engineering at Virginia Commonwealth University. Aga Kendrick, PhD, is a postdoctoral fellow at University of California, San Diego Medical Center. Rajan Kulkarni, MD, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Dermatology at Oregon Health and Science University. Rachel Pozzar, PhD, is a nurse scientist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Instructor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Rebeca San Martin, PhD, is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. 5:10 – What does it mean to be an “early-stage cancer researcher?” 9:56 – The unique challenges faced by early-career scientists 15:01 – How the American Cancer Society encouraged a conversation about how to surmount these challenges 16:33 – Some of the most striking things they learned from each other 22:47 – Productivity issues faced by early-stage researchers 24:19 – How cancer research labs have functioned during the pandemic 29:35 – How the pandemic has impacted the tenure clock for clinician scientists 34:21 – Ways to promote mental health among early-career investigators 37:36 – Some concluding thoughts about improving the environment for early-stage cancer researchers 40:26 – Their message for cancer patients, survivors, and caregivers