Revitalizing biomedical research: recommendations from the Future of Research Chicago Symposium

Abstract

The biomedical research enterprise faces considerable structural challenges after years of stagnant funding coupled with steady growth of the pool of graduate students and postdoctoral scientists. Input from junior scientists into the nature of how these challenges affect both the quality of the enterprise and career outcomes is essential to craft effective reforms that will bring a new era of robustness into biomedical research. In October 2015, junior scientists based in Chicago organized the Future of Research Chicago Symposium. The goals of the meeting were twofold: first, to educate the local community about structural problems in biomedical science; and second, to survey scientists in the Midwest, particularly postdocs, in order to find out their views on these issues and solicit suggestions for improvement. We present the recommendations of Symposium participants as distilled by the organizers. These recommendations reflect junior scientists’ desire for diversification of career development opportunities within the framework of doctoral and postdoctoral training and for policies at funding agencies that demonstrate a stronger commitment to supporting trainees and new investigators. We discuss practical steps that can be taken to enable these reforms, highlighting the responsibilities of junior scientists, faculty, funding agencies, and other stakeholders in working toward the goal of a revitalized biomedical research system.