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. 2015 Jan 13;112(2):313-8.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.1418761112. Epub 2015 Jan 5.

A generation at risk: young investigators and the future of the biomedical workforce

Ronald J Daniels  1
Affiliations

A generation at risk: young investigators and the future of the biomedical workforce

Ronald J Daniels. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .

Abstract

A number of distressing trends, including a decline in the share of key research grants going to younger scientists, as well as a steady rise in the age at which investigators receive their first funding, are now a decades-long feature of the US biomedical research workforce. Working committees have proposed recommendations, policy makers have implemented reforms, and yet the trajectory of our funding regime away from young scientists has only worsened. An investigation of some of the major factors and their geneses at play in explaining the increasing average age to first RO1 is presented. Recommendations related to funding, peer review, career paths, and the university-government partnership are provided.

Keywords: biomedical workforce; federal funding; graduate education; postdoctoral education.

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Conflict of interest statement

The author declares no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Percent of NIH R01 principal investigators and medical school faculty by age (1980 in pale and 2010 in bold). Image from ref. .
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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