For NIH Postdoctoral Fellows, Choosing a Career is All in the Details

As a postdoctoral fellow at the NIH, in the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), I have been strongly encouraged from the outset of my five-year appointment to start making serious decisions about my career path. Although I have always loved basic research and the thrill that comes from making a novel discovery, I also feel a strong pull to have a job that allows for more interaction with people and less with cultured cells and pipettors. Being at the NIH, I did not have to look far to learn about scientific jobs away from the lab bench.

 

One of the best ways to learn about a different field is by doing a rotation, otherwise known as a detail. Toward the end of their fellowships, NHLBI postdocs have the opportunity to do a detail either through divisions that are within the NIH, or through other local organizations. Of course, permission from your PI is required, because they will essentially be paying for you to be somewhere else for a temporary period. Getting a supervisor’s support, it turns out, is not as difficult as one might think. I have found in speaking to other NIH fellows, that many PIs agree that the world is a better place with more experienced scientists out there, especially in the fields of biomedical research funding, technology transfer, and science policy, just to name a few. Many former NHLBI postdoctoral trainees have successful non-laboratory careers, and it makes sense that we look outside our immediate departments for some experience in order to make us more attractive job candidates. A “Memorandum of Understanding” (MOU) is required to delineate the terms of your detail, which requires many signatures. Everyone has to be on board and know exactly what is happening.

 

Last winter, I was selected from a pool of applicants to do a 3-month, part-time detail through an extramural office of NIH. So once a week, I took a break from the bench and worked in an office in a different part of Bethesda. It was not a difficult adjustment to go from the lab to an office, and I met plenty of experienced scientists working there as well. I learned about the field of portfolio analysis and was exposed to the responsibilities of a NIH program officer.

 

Portfolio analysis is an important way for extramural divisions to evaluate the effectiveness of their funding mechanisms. My specific project was to analyze the R36 mechanism, which is designed to promote diversity of the biomedical research workforce. It is offered to predoctoral students from underrepresented minorities and ethnic groups as well as individuals with disabilities for up to 2 years to fund the completion of their dissertation research. At least 3 institutes at the NIH participate in the R36 mechanism, including NIMHNIA, and NIDA. This is distinct from the diversity F31 mechanism, which is intended to fund a graduate student during the early years of graduate school.

 

At the end of my detail, I presented my analysis to leadership and they subsequently used my data to assess if the mechanism should be renewed. The detail experience was definitely useful to me as I learned about the “extramural side” of NIH and gained experience using database tools to do portfolio analysis. My detail was not unlike a laboratory rotation that graduate students take to find out what life is like in different labs before choosing a thesis lab. It would be really nice if the detail was available to all pre- and postdoctoral fellows supported by the NIH, for instance those on a T32, F31, or F32. Building a detail into the funding mechanism could be a way for junior scientists to expand their horizons and help inform their career choices. I am now considering a future as a health scientist administrator, where ideally I can have plenty of interaction with scientists and facilitate NIH funding of their research.

About the Author:


Juliane Caviston, PhD, is an IRTA Fellow in the Laboratory of Cell Biology under Dr. Julie Donaldson.