Abstract
Increasing biomedical workforce diversity remains a persistent challenge. Recent reports have shown that biomedical sciences (BMS) graduate students become less interested in faculty careers as training progresses; however, it is unclear whether or how the career preferences of women and underrepresented minority (URM) scientists change in manners distinct from their better-represented peers. We report results from a survey of 1500 recent American BMS Ph.D. graduates (including 276 URMs) that examined career preferences over the course of their graduate training experiences. On average, scientists from all social backgrounds showed significantly decreased interest in faculty careers at research universities, and significantly increased interest in non-research careers at Ph.D. completion relative to entry. However, group differences emerged in overall levels of interest (at Ph.D. entry and completion), and the magnitude of change in interest in these careers. Multiple logistic regression showed that when controlling for career pathway interest at Ph.D. entry, first-author publication rate, faculty support, research self-efficacy, and graduate training experiences, differences in career pathway interest between social identity groups persisted. All groups were less likely than men from well-represented (WR) racial/ethnic backgrounds to report high interest in faculty careers at research-intensive universities (URM men: OR 0.60, 95% CI: 0.36–0.98, p = 0.04; WR women: OR: 0.64, 95% CI: 0.47–0.89, p = 0.008; URM women: OR: 0.46, 95% CI: 0.30–0.71, p<0.001), and URM women were more likely than all other groups to report high interest in non-research careers (OR: 1.93, 95% CI: 1.28–2.90, p = 0.002). The persistence of disparities in the career interests of Ph.D. recipients suggests that a supply-side (or “pipeline”) framing of biomedical workforce diversity challenges may limit the effectiveness of efforts to attract and retain the best and most diverse workforce. We propose incorporation of an ecological perspective of career development when considering strategies to enhance the biomedical workforce and professoriate through diversity.
Highlights
Increasing the participation of women and scientists from underrepresented minority (URM) backgrounds in the science professoriate remains ‘‘perhaps the least successful of the diversity initiatives’’ [1]
Two-thirds of respondents worked as postdoctoral scientists (66.8%), with others working in careers outside of research, as research scientists/engineers in industry or government (5.7%), tenure-track professors (4.1%), or other positions in academia (4.1%; S2 Table)
After controlling for multiple factors believed to have an influence on career development, there were disparate career interest profiles by social identity at Ph.D. completion, with all groups less likely than WRM to report high interest in faculty careers at research-intensive universities (URMF being least likely), and URMF more likely to report high interest in non-research careers
Summary
Increasing the participation of women and scientists from underrepresented minority (URM) backgrounds in the science professoriate remains ‘‘perhaps the least successful of the diversity initiatives’’ [1]. In the decade following the doubling of the NIH budget, available funding for research has declined by up to 25% in constant dollars and success rates for research project grants have decreased; yet, the system continues to produce greater numbers of Ph.D. scientists than there are permanent research positions in academia, government and the private sector [15] This has been evident in academic science, where in the early 1970s, over 50% of life science Ph.D. graduates held tenure/ tenure-track positions within 5 years of graduation, while today, that number has declined to 10.6% [16, 17]
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