career development

CORRECTION: The following was to be a part-sincere/part-serious sendup of my buddy Bora's penchant for monitoring the entire Internet. Bora did indeed host the first edition of Praxis, the new blog carnival of academic life. However. The Praxis experimental carnival of "the experience of living the scientific" was established, founded, and otherwise continues to be led by Martin, author of The Lay Scientist blog. Mini Bio: Well I'm Martin, I live in Cambridge, England, and this is me on the Amazon in 2007. I did a frankly weird Ph.D. looking at the relationship between models from ecology,…
This morning our dear friend and colleague whose wine escapades often fill this spot awoke to the rewards of retirement. My senior cancer research colleague, Erleichda, has just closed the book on 30 years with a single pharmaceutical company, unheard of in today's climate of layoffs and jumping from one company to the next. My friend began in this industry when it was still considered a noble pursuit and continued to be an ambassador for all that is good about pharmaceutical research & development, with his primary concern the welfare of those stricken with cancer and the cultivation…
Go on over and offer your best wishes to Dr. Ventii. She was just awarded her Ph.D. in cancer biochemistry from Emory University in Atlanta. Karen writes the blog, Science to Life. Congratulations, Karen!
This just in from David B. Brushwood, RPh, JD, Professor of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy at the University of Florida College of Pharmacy. David said, "we could use your help promoting the programs to anyone you know who might be interested." So, I know you and since you read this blog, you might be interested (see here for more information on these programs and others already ongoing): We have really worked hard to develop three new online, part-time programs that will interest you. These are in addition to the programs that are up and running. The new programs start this fall.…
Effective science communication and science advocacy in the public arena has been much discussed in the science blogosphere. But is ranting on science and medical blogs the most effective way to promote science, especially in the United States? I've had some discussions with other scientists, including blog colleague PhysioProf, who submit that the best way for scientists to advocate for science policy is to become politicians themselves. To this end, I read with great interest this morning of an AP story written last night by Seth Borenstein, "A Crash Course in True Political Science":…
Alison McCook has a lengthy article now up on The Scientist website that illustrates how NIH grant funding shortfalls are coming home to roost, with soft money faculty first to be jettisoned. In 2007, more than 4,000 NIH-funded researchers were denied grant renewals. For some, that means they have to close up shop. The article itself is well-done, chronicling the experience of Alan Schneyer, a well-established and productive reproductive endocrinology researcher formerly at Massachusetts General Hospital, whose research program was shut down after three tries for a competing renewal of his…
Here's a Saturday morning open question to the readership: I'm experiencing some changes in my life that may affect my blogging frequency in the negative direction (but not the quality, of course). I've always blogged intermittently - this has always been a labor of love, intellectual stimulation, and public education rather than ego fodder - but I already feel a little frustrated with myself, for example, in being able to address topics you submit or questions you ask via e-mail. Several others at ScienceBlogs and elsewhere start team blogs or take on additional bloggers with a similar…
Okay, some people are smoking some bad dope. Whilst helping the PharmKid get down to the car for school this morning, I came upon PharmGirl, MD, in a rage while sitting in front of her laptop. The object of her vitriol was a 17 April article in BusinessWeek entitled, "Are There Too Many Women Doctors?: As an MD shortage looms, female physicians and their flexible hours are taking some of the blame." The article derives from a point/counterpoint pair of essays in the 5 April issue of BMJ (British Medical Journal) entitled, "Are there too many female medical graduates?" ("Yes" position, "No"…
MD/PhD student Jake Young at Pure Pedantry came up with a great idea and is collecting recipes for cheap, grad student/med student meals. (We of Eastern European heritage love a kid who suggests an inventive application of kielbasa.). The submissions in the comment thread remind me that our food supply system is so screwed up that the most nutritious foods are the most expensive. When one is living on a student stipend, paying your own way, or , more seriously, if you are one of millions of US citizens living in abject poverty, one usually purchases the most calories per dollar. In our…
One of the drawbacks to writing under a pseudonym is that when people around you do well, it's sort of dodgy how you can use the blog to congratulate them publicly. In fact, dear readers might ask: "Why bother putting this up on the blog?" Well, I'm just proud - like a parent - like an anonymous, proud parent. In my various iterations of adjunct professorship, I get to interact with some really tremendous students in the health sciences - some I even convince to come do some lab work or some literature projects in the name of our national medical research agency. Some do both - and a…
This just in tonight from the NIH National Institute on Drug Abuse for those looking for a Ph.D.-level position outside of the laboratory: NIDA seeks Molecular Biologist to Direct NIDA Program in Molecular Neurobiology: Under Represented Minorities Are Encouraged to Apply. The DHHS and NIH is an Equal Opportunity Employer Health Scientist Administrator, GS-601-13/14 NIDA Salary Range: $82,961.00 -$127,442.00 USD per year Location: Rockville, MD 20892 Open Period: Thursday, February 14, 2008 to Sunday, March 23, 2008 Job Announcements: NIDA-08-237161-MP and NIDA-08-237161-DE Major Duties:…
It seems that everyone in the sci/med blogosphere is offering Valentine's posts reflecting their areas of professional interest. So, here's mine: Your humble Pharmboy came of age with glam, punk, and New Wave music but thanks to PharmMom, RN, and her then-college-aged ER co-workers, I have a soft spot for 70s soft-rocking singer-songwriters. Yes, Jim Croce, John Denver, James Taylor, and Dan Fogelberg. So it was with great interest and nostalgia that I opened this e-mail a few days ago from the Prostate Cancer Foundation: Dan Fogelberg, the singer and songwriter whose hits "Leader of the…
We're a little bit late here in wishing the DrugMonkey blog a happy 1st blogiversary. Contributors DrugMonkey, BikeMonkey, and PhysioProf have had a very productive year of offering valuable career advice for graduate and postgraduate trainees in the biomedical sciences, general discussions on NIH grant funding, and various topics in neuroscience. The sci/med blogosphere is populated quite heavily by graduate students, medical students, and postdoctoral fellows. This situation is perhaps easy to explain in that most of these trainees are of an age that is comfortable with social networking…
About 10 days ago, I wrote a post on my thoughts regarding gender issues in science and medicine. In the post, I made note of the recent recruitment of Nancy Andrews, MD, PhD, from Harvard to become the new medical school dean at Duke University. In my post, I noted: What would normally be a modestly newsworthy story for a dean who happened to be a man is instead noted in the press release and on the webpage as: Andrews, 48, is the first woman to be appointed dean of Duke's School of Medicine and becomes the only woman to lead one of the nation's top 10 medical schools. When I read that, I…
The Scientiae blog carnival has been soliciting posts for their November edition on "talking to yourself." Zuska brought this theme to the attention of some of us guy bloggers and carnival host Yami at Green Gabbro elaborated as follows: ...the past few Scientiae carnivals have been composed entirely of women's voices. While I think it's appropriate that women's voices should dominate the conversation about women's experiences, the job of thinking about gender in science belongs to everyone! I'd like to invite all you equality-minded men scientists to join the fun this time around - how do…
The always-insightful blog commenter, PhysioProf, had a terrific post yesterday on DrugMonkey about managing the various types of trainees in a research laboratory. Some are focused on just doing interesting science. Some are working towards the goal of eventually achieving scientific independence and becoming independent PIs themselves. Some don't know why they are doing what they are doing, and may not even have ever asked themselves. Some are preparing themselves for working as scientists in industry. Some may be preparing themselves for non-scientific careers in which they make use of…
Vote for Shelley! Welcome readers, I am Dr John Jacob Abel, namesake of the proprietor of this blog and The Father of American Pharmacology. Among my many scientific and educational accomplishments was my establishment of the first American Department of Pharmacology at the University of Michigan in 1891. It has come to my attention through something called a "blog" that a fellow Wolverine and neuroscience trainee, Dr-to-be Shelley Batts of Retrospectacle!, is competing for a student blogging scholarship worth $10,000 offered by CollegeScholarships.org (vote here). Shelley was very kind to…
Via Clinical Cases and Images, I just learned that Mark Rabnett at the University of Manitoba has just compiled a comprehensive list of medical student bloggers. No one source is complete, so I hope this list will be of help to the fevered mind that cannot rest until every blogging student in the health sciences has been tracked down. I see a permanent job for a few people who are willing to work for no salary while exposing themselves to resident evil, anger, fear, and cadaver fumes. As for me, if I don't wake up screaming I just may have to go back to renegotiating Nietzsche in the…
Brian C. Martinson has written an excellent commentary that appears in the 13 September issue of Nature. The topic of "Universities and The Money Fix" is the discordance between the goals of NIH and research universities in conducting biomedical research and, as a result, generating research trainees at a rate whose absorption by the system is unsustainable. Since the early 1980s new investigators have been entering NIH funding at a more rapid rate than experienced investigators have been exiting, leading to a population increase... ...We need to look at both the supply and the demand sides…
Just got a nice note from Daniel Kovach of CollegeScholarships.org announcing their blogging scholarship competition. As is well-known to ScienceBlogs.com readers, our own Shelley Batts of Retrospectacle! won the $1,000 runner-up prize last year. All the details and eligibility requirements are here, including the nomination form. Unfortunately, the contest is only open to US college bloggers. The deadline for nominations is midnight (PST) on 6 October. You can nominate yourself or a fellow blogger. The top 10 finalists will be announced and public voting will commence on 8 October.…