Gaining independence as a postdoc is a critical factor for future academic success, and dedicated fellowships and junior investigator programs may help young scientists make the leap.
There are three ways to accomplish this: negotiate autonomy (and access to the requisite resources and space) with your postdoctoral research adviser, obtain a fellowship designed to facilitate your independence, or take advantage of one of the "junior investigator" programs intended for independent postdocs, which are growing in number, especially in Europe.
DJR is a surgery and Clinician Investigator Program resident who is presently conducting a Doctor of Philosophy investigation study in epidemiology with a thesis on trauma damage control surgery at the University of Calgary.
Her priorities will be to maintain HHMI's flagship investigator program, which supports around 330 investigators at institutions across the country, as well as its Janelia Research Campus in Ashburn, Virginia.
Q: What are some of most important things you've done at HHMI? A: The investigator program is the bedrock of the institute.
Most in demand, she explains, are those few elite young scientists who have already attracted highly prestigious support from such sources as the National Institutes of Health's K99/R00 "kangaroo" grants or the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Investigator Program.
In addition to the investigator program, the Biohub has a few other large-scale initiatives such as the Infectious Disease Initiative to discover new ways to fight dengue fever and Zika outbreaks, as well as the Cell Atlas, a global project to map the cells in the human body in hopes it unlocks certain causes of disease and potentially leads to new therapies.
But students who decide to pursue a career in research at a later point in their MD or post-MD training still have options, in the form of combined residency/fellowship/research-training programs such as UBC's Clinician Investigator Program (CIP).
The winners of the $200 million competition will add to the 340 scientists who are part of the giant biomedical research charity's flagship investigator program at some 70 U.S. institutions (including 15 appointed last year through a special competition for plant scientists).
And there's a tangible payoff, too: For Lane Martin, an associate professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) who has won both an NSF CAREER award and the U.S. Army's Young Investigator Program Award, the PECASE award comes with a 5-year, $1 million grant from the Army's Office of Scientific Research.
We are growing the stem cell field now through our post doctoral Fellowship program and our new Investigator Program, both of which train and support young scientists in the pursuit of the most innovative and advanced translational stem cell research.
