Recommendation 4
The process is long and involves a web of intersecting conflicts of interest and misaligned incentives. Investigators depend on graduate students and postdocs to advance their own research. Prioritizing the rapid completion of dissertation research and departure to a post- doc or other position runs counter to a very real interest in retaining individuals proficient in the techniques essential to the laboratory’s success. Mentoring and encouraging the development of independence can take a back seat to striving for maximum productivity. In the worst cases, abusive supervisors can exploit the power they hold over the future careers of the trainees in their labs in coercive and damaging ways. These problems are all exacerbated by a growing trend toward supporting biomedical trainees on individual investigator’s research grants. The reasons for this trend are twofold: First, the training grant and fellowship programs are woefully underfunded, so they support only a small fraction of eligible trainees, and then commonly for only a year or two of training. Second, only U.S. citizens and permanent residents are eligible for support under these programs (with the exception of the K99/R00 transition-to-independence award), rendering nearly half of biomedical graduate students — and more than half of all postdocs — ineligible.
Integral to NIH’s mission is the imperative to train the biomedical research workforce of the future.
Training grant programs are IC- and/or discipline-specific, so institutions must apply for multiple training grants, subject to multiple merit reviews and site visits. The administrative burden is such that the process favors large, established research institutions with the support infrastructures to navigate the extensive application and reporting requirements. The consequences of the continuous increase in investigator grant-supported trainees are highly concerning; investigators are not held accountable for how, or even whether their trainees are mentored. While most investigators are committed to ensuring supportive, positive, and successful training experiences, the absence of reporting requirements makes it impossible to identify and hold accountable those who are not.
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