TY - JOUR
T1 - A cross-institutional analysis of the effects of broadening trainee professional development on research productivity
AU - Brandt, Patrick D.
AU - Varvayanis, Susi Sturzenegger
AU - Baas, Tracey
AU - Bolgioni, Amanda F.
AU - Alder, Janet
AU - Petrie, Kimberly A.
AU - Dominguez, Isabel
AU - Brown, Abigail M.
AU - Stayart, C. Abigail
AU - Singh, Harinder
AU - Van Wart, Audra
AU - Chow, Christine S.
AU - Mathur, Ambika
AU - Schreiber, Barbara M.
AU - Fruman, David A.
AU - Bowden, Brent
AU - Wiesen, Christopher A.
AU - Golightly, Yvonne M.
AU - Holmquist, Chris E.
AU - Arneman, Daniel
AU - Hall, Joshua D.
AU - Hyman, Linda E.
AU - Gould, Kathleen L.
AU - Chalkley, Roger
AU - Brennwald, Patrick J.
AU - Layton, Rebekah L.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Brandt et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
PY - 2021/7
Y1 - 2021/7
N2 - PhD-trained scientists are essential contributors to the workforce in diverse employment sectors that include academia, industry, government, and nonprofit organizations. Hence, best practices for training the future biomedical workforce are of national concern. Complementing coursework and laboratory research training, many institutions now offer professional training that enables career exploration and develops a broad set of skills critical to various career paths. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded academic institutions to design innovative programming to enable this professional development through a mechanism known as Broadening Experiences in Scientific Training (BEST). Programming at the NIH BEST awardee institutions included career panels, skill-building workshops, job search workshops, site visits, and internships. Because doctoral training is lengthy and requires focused attention on dissertation research, an initial concern was that students participating in additional complementary training activities might exhibit an increased time to degree or diminished research productivity. Metrics were analyzed from 10 NIH BEST awardee institutions to address this concern, using time to degree and publication records as measures of efficiency and productivity. Comparing doctoral students who participated to those who did not, results revealed that across these diverse academic institutions, there were no differences in time to degree or manuscript output. Our findings support the policy that doctoral students should participate in career and professional development opportunities that are intended to prepare them for a variety of diverse and important careers in the workforce.
AB - PhD-trained scientists are essential contributors to the workforce in diverse employment sectors that include academia, industry, government, and nonprofit organizations. Hence, best practices for training the future biomedical workforce are of national concern. Complementing coursework and laboratory research training, many institutions now offer professional training that enables career exploration and develops a broad set of skills critical to various career paths. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded academic institutions to design innovative programming to enable this professional development through a mechanism known as Broadening Experiences in Scientific Training (BEST). Programming at the NIH BEST awardee institutions included career panels, skill-building workshops, job search workshops, site visits, and internships. Because doctoral training is lengthy and requires focused attention on dissertation research, an initial concern was that students participating in additional complementary training activities might exhibit an increased time to degree or diminished research productivity. Metrics were analyzed from 10 NIH BEST awardee institutions to address this concern, using time to degree and publication records as measures of efficiency and productivity. Comparing doctoral students who participated to those who did not, results revealed that across these diverse academic institutions, there were no differences in time to degree or manuscript output. Our findings support the policy that doctoral students should participate in career and professional development opportunities that are intended to prepare them for a variety of diverse and important careers in the workforce.
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U2 - 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000956
DO - 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000956
M3 - Article
C2 - 34264929
AN - SCOPUS:85110540963
VL - 19
JO - PLoS Biology
JF - PLoS Biology
SN - 1544-9173
IS - 7
M1 - e3000956
ER -