A Sampling of Recent Literature on the Scientific Workforce

As NIH continues its work to better understand the many factors that influence the stability of the biomedical workforce, we wanted to take a moment to discuss some recent papers that highlight the need to take new measures to support early and mid-career researchers. Earlier this year, we discussed a paper by our NIH colleagues who looked at data on the shifting demographics of lead principal investigators (PIs) on NIH and National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) research project grants. One of their findings is a decline in the representation of PIs aged 41-55. A recent paper by Michael Levitt (Stanford University) and Jonathan Levitt (Statistical Cybermetrics Research Groups) published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science supports these observations. The authors combined NIH data on R01-funded PIs and Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) data on U.S. medical school faculty to examine trends among three age groups: over 55, between 46-55, and under age 46. The number of medical school faculty and NIH R01 grantees over age 55 has increased steadily since 1980. Focusing on faculty in basic science departments, the authors see a similar trend to NIH R01 grantee data, where the representation of younger and middle aged PIs has remained stagnant, or declined, since 2000. Looking at inflation-adjusted funding data, the authors see further evidence that NIH-supported PIs under age 55 are feeling greater pressure. Funding markedly increased for PI...
Source: NIH Extramural Nexus - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Open Mike Biomedical Workforce Early Stage Investigators Source Type: funding