Overstretched & Overlooked: Solving challenges faced by early-career scientists after the pandemic
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 \u201cto help institutions and individuals develop effective strategies to promote success and career advancement.\u201d\n\nThey joined the TheoryLab podcast to talk about key takeaways from their article, which \u201chighlights the aftermath of the pandemic on work\u2013life balance, promotion, tenure, funding, networking, and mentoring, and make recommendations that can help remediate these problems.\u201d\n\n\u201cOverstretched and overlooked: solving challenges faced by early-career investigators after the pandemic\u201d was published in the journal Trends in Cancer: (https://www.cell.com/trends/cancer/fulltext/S2405-8033(21)00158-8)\n\n3:41 \u2013 Brock Humphries, PhD, is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan. \n\nPriscilla Hwang, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in Biomedical Engineering at Virginia Commonwealth University.\n\nAga Kendrick, PhD, is a postdoctoral fellow at University of California, San Diego Medical Center.\n\nRajan Kulkarni, MD, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Dermatology at Oregon Health and Science University.\n\nRachel Pozzar, PhD, is a nurse scientist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Instructor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.\n\nRebeca San Martin, PhD, is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.\n\n5:10 \u2013 What does it mean to be an \u201cearly-stage cancer researcher?\u201d \n\n9:56 \u2013 The unique challenges faced by early-career scientists\n\n15:01 \u2013 How the American Cancer Society encouraged a conversation about how to surmount these challenges\n\n16:33 \u2013 Some of the most striking things they learned from each other\n\n22:47 \u2013 Productivity issues faced by early-stage researchers\n\n24:19 \u2013 How cancer research labs have functioned during the pandemic\n\n29:35 \u2013 How the pandemic has impacted the tenure clock for clinician scientists \n\n34:21 \u2013 Ways to promote mental health among early-career investigators\n\n37:36 \u2013 Some concluding thoughts about improving the environment for early-stage cancer researchers\n\n40:26 \u2013 Their message for cancer patients, survivors, and caregivers