Dear Colleague Letter: Input from the research community on the barriers that the next generation of researchers face as they aspire to and maintain independent research careers.	International Papers: Commissioned papers examining support for the next generation of researchers in other countries and regions.	Responses to Recommendations: Relevant recommendations were collected from key reports dating back to 2005 and researchers documented the responses to those recommendations.

An ad hoc committee overseen by the Board on Higher Education and Workforce (BHEW), in collaboration with COSEMPUP, BOSE, and HMD, will conduct a study that examines the policy and programmatic steps that the nation can undertake to ensure the successful launch and sustainment of careers among the next generation of researchers in the biomedical and behavioral sciences, including the full range of health sciences supported by the NIH. The study will examine evidence-based programs and policies that can reduce barriers to, and create more opportunities for, successful transitions to independent research careers. It will also examine factors that influence the stability and sustainability of the early stages of independent research careers.

The study will include:
• An evaluation of the barriers that prospective researchers encounter as they transition to independent research careers. Such barriers may include inadequate career guidance and support, insufficient access to fellowships and traineeships that may provide broad exposure to research experiences, inability to compete successfully for initial research grant awards, and postdoctoral experiences that limit options for pursuing independent research careers;

• An evaluation of the impact of federal policies and budgets, including federal agency policies and procedures regarding research grant awards, on opportunities for prospective researchers to successfully transition into independent research careers and to secure their all-important first and second major research grants;

• An evaluation of the extent to which employers (industry, government agencies and labs, academic institutions, and others) can facilitate smooth transitions for early career researchers into independent research careers.

The committee will issue a report with recommendations for federal and institutional policies to improve the transition into careers for the next generation of researchers in the biomedical and behavioral sciences, including the full range of health sciences supported by the NIH. The report's main focus will be on addressing hurdles to and the transition points into independent research careers.

For more information on this study please contact Lida Beninson (lbeninson@nas.edu).



INTERNATIONAL COMMISSIONED PAPERS FOR NEXT GENERATION RESEARCHERS INITIATIVE REPORT

Canada

China

The European Union

Singapore

The United Kingdom

RESPONSES TO RECOMMENDATIONS IN PREVIOUS REPORTS ON BIOMEDICAL AND BEHAVIORAL RESEARCHERS

• Dr. Michael Lauer, Deputy Director for Extramural Research at the National Institutes of Health
• Dr. Rory Goodwin, Neurosurgery Resident, The Johns Hopkins Hospital
• Dr. Misty Heggeness, Chief of Longitudinal Research, Evaluation, and Outreach, U.S. Census Bureau
• Dr. Kenneth Gibbs, Program Director, Division on Training, Workforce Development, and Diversity at the National Institute of General Medicine

April 2-3, 2017
Second committee meeting at the National Academies Building in Washington, DC.
Public Agenda
Presenter Slides:

• Drs. Yasmeen Hussain and Amanda Field, Christine Mirzayan Science and Technology Policy Fellows at the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine
• Dr. Lawrence Rothblum, Chair of the Department of Cell Biology at the University of Oklahoma; President of the Association of Anatomy, Cell Biology, and Neurobiology Chairpersons
• Dr. Paul McGonigle. Director of Interdisciplinary and Career-Oriented Programs; Co-Director of Drug Discovery and Development Program at Drexel University

• Dr. Marc Bonnefoi, Head of R&D France, Sanofi
• Dr. Dennis Dean, II, R&D Scientists, Seven Bridges Genomics
• Jim Mullen, CEO, Patheon
• Dr. Susan Baserga, Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University
• Dr. Stephen Haggarty, Director of Chemical Neurobiology Laboratory, Massachusetts General Hospital
• Dr. Steven Hyman, Directory, Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research and Core Member, Broad Institute

• Dr. Marina Ramon, Board Member, National Postdoctoral Association
• Dr. Samantha Hindle, Assistant Professional Researcher, University of California San Francisco
• Dr. Sean McConnell, Postdoctoral Scholar, University of Chicago
• Dr. Nancy  Schwartz, Dean and Director of Postdoctoral Affairs, University of Chicago
• Dr. Daniel Wilson, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco

 STAFF

Lida Beninson, Study Director and Program Officer
Tom Rudin, Director
Maria Lund Dahlberg, Associate Program Officer
Layne Scherer, Program Officer
Jay Labov, Senior Advisor for Education and Communication
Irene Ngun, Research Associate
Elizabeth Garbee, Christine Mirzayan Science and Technology Policy Graduate Fellow (Until April 2018)
Adriana Courembis, Finance Officer
Austen Applegate, Senior Program Assistant
Yasmeen Hussain, Associate Program Officer (Unitl July 2017)
Jaime Colman, Senior Program Assistant (Until December 2017)