Personnel Needs and Training for Biomedical and Behavioral Research 1985 Report (1985) / Chapter Skim
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3 Basic Biomedical Sciences
3 Basic Biomedical Sciences
Pages 51-78
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From page 51... ...
Continued growth in the industrial sector is expected. INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW In previous reports issued since 1976, this committee has cited the rapid growth in the number of biomedical scientists serving on postdoctoral appointments as an indicator of insufficient opportunity for these individuals to move into more permanent academic positions.
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From page 52... ...
Support for postdoctoral training under NRSA programs is a regulating mechanism for helping to achieve the proper balance between these points of view, which often pull in different directions. In this chapter, we present our assessment of the current market for basic biomedical scientists with Ph.D.
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From page 53... ...
The size of the postdoctoral pool appears to have dropped in 1983 for the first time in over 10 years. Academic employment of biomedical Ph.D.s increased very slightly in 1983 -- industrial employment grew most rapidly.
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From page 54... ...
54 Cat ._ Cat g ._ o ._ c - to, CrO so g ._ _4 ee e .
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From page 55... ...
These assumptions and projections are presented in the Market Outlook section of this chapter. Postdoctoral Appointments (Table 3.l, line lc and Figure 3.1 ~ The number of biomedical scientists serving on postdoctoral appointments apparently declined slightly in 1983 for the first time in over 10 years, perhaps as a consequence of the drop in Ph.D.
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From page 56... ...
production, postdoctoral appointments, and first-year graduate enrollments in doctorate-granting institutions in basic biomedical science fields, 1960-83. See Appendix Tables B2 and B3.
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From page 57... ...
A s l ~ ~ ~ I I ~ I J I 62 64 66 68 70 72 74 76 78 80 82 F I SCAL Y EAR FIGURE 3.2 Bachelor's degrees awarded in biomedical science fields compared to other fields, 1962-82.
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From page 58... ...
Therefore, we have developed a procedure for estimating bioscience undergraduate enrollment from the ratio of bioscience bachelor's degrees to total bachelor's degrees (Bb/Bt)
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From page 59... ...
It would appear that declining bioscience enrollments and slower growth in R and D expenditures are diminishing academic demand for biomedical scientists. Industrial employment of biomedical Ph.D.s is increasing rapidly but this sector is still small relative to the academic sector.
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From page 60... ...
) 1 1 1 1 1 1 64 66 68 70 72 74 76 78 F I SCAL YEAR 80 82 84 86 88 90 FIGURE 3.4 Biomedical science R and D expenditures in colleges and universities, by control of institution, 1964-83, with projections to 1990 (1972 $, millions)
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From page 61... ...
Although there appear to be more firms in the industry in 1985 than there were in 1983, we don't know the extent to which the apparent expansion is real or simply due to better identification of biotechnology firms. 3n _ _ 25 _ 20 _ In n Pre-72 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 YEAR COMPANY STARTED BIOTECHNOLOGY R AND D 82 83 84 FIGURE 3.5 Percentage distribution of the year of firms' initiation of operations in the biotechnology industry.
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From page 62... ...
The top three specialties in terms of employment of Ph.D.s were recombinant DNA/molecular genetics, general biochemistry, and hybridomas/monoclonal antibodies (Table 3.2~. These were also the top TABLE 3.2 Biomedical Ph.D.s Employed by Biotechnology Firms Responding to Survey Ph.D.s Increase Number of Employed by Expected Respondents Employment Specialties 141 Responding in 18 Indicating (listed in order of Firms Months a Shortagea number of Ph.D.s employed)
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From page 63... ...
Bioprocess engineering was the second most frequently cited shortage category in 1985, followed by the category of other biotechnology specialties, within which were mentioned organic chemistry, immunodiagnostics, fermentation, microbial physiology, pharmaceutics, and teratology. Some respondents submitted additional comments on the question of shortages.
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From page 64... ...
level staff -- but specialties are not known at this time." A large firm engaged in pharmaceuticals, animal growth hormones, human diagnostics and therapeutics. The biotechnology industry continues to look to the academic sector as the principal supplier of trained scientists.
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From page 65... ...
If enrollment growth is related to faculty growth, the relationship is likely to be a long-term one in that faculty size generally will not result from year-to-year changes in enrollment. In between these extremes is the view that graduate and undergraduate enrollments may have different impacts on faculty size in the biomedical fields.
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From page 66... ...
vs. biomedical undergraduate enrollments (U)
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From page 67... ...
. The F/WS ratio is defined as the number of academically employed bioscience Ph.D.s relative to a weighted average of bioscience graduate and undergraduate enrollments (WS)
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From page 68... ...
US = 3-yr. moving average of undergraduate enrollments (369,100 in 1981)
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From page 69... ...
+~+ Private Schools I 1 1 ' ' 1 1 1 1 ~ 72 74 76 78 80 82 84 86 88 90 PI SCAL YEAR FIGURE 3.8 Ph.D.s employed in the biomedical sciences at colleges and universities, by control of institution, 1960-83, with projections to 1990. See Appendix Table BS.
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From page 70... ...
Entering academic employment in the biomedical sciences each year from: % of Total _N Accessions a. nonacademic sectors 527 21.9 b.
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From page 71... ...
~ = 3-year moving average of bioscience undergraduate enrollments and (GS) ~ = 3-year moving average of bioscience graduate enrollments; M = weighted average of last 3 years of biomedical science R and D expenditures in colleges and universities, i.e., M' = ~/4(R~ + 2R~ ~ + Rat 2)
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From page 72... ...
For this, we must consider how the system works at several crucial stages of the process by which biomedical scientists are trained and absorbed into career positions. Postdoctoral Training Levels The features of the postdoctoral training system which must be considered in addition to the projections of faculty growth are as follows: the number of accessions to faculty positions who have {or should have)
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From page 73... ...
Using the projections of academic demand derived in Table 3.4 and the same set of conditions specified in the 1981 and 1983 reports, we calculate in Table 3.5 the range of basic biomedical science postdoctoral trainees that should be supported by NRSA programs under the specified conditions. Line 1 of Table 3.5 is a summary of the projections of academic demand for the extreme cases and the best-guess estimate derived in Table 3.4.
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From page 74... ...
70% 10,100 8,010 2,740 4. Annual number of biomedical postdoctoral trainees to be supported under NRSA programs: a.
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From page 75... ...
SUMMARY The committee's determination of the appropriate number of trainees to be supported under NRSA programs in the basic biomedical sciences has been based on estimates of academic demand and certain assumptions about how the training system operates. Projections of demand are derived from a model in which faculty size is dependent upon enrollment and research funding.
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From page 76... ...
Exposure to ongoing research in the biomedical sciences is a central component of the training experience. The MARC Honors program has as its principal objective the encouragement of minority students in the pursuit of graduate training leading to the Ph.D.
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From page 77... ...
The MARC Honors program was designed explicitly to prepare students for research careers, yet many talented undergraduate science majors plan to pursue professional (but not necessarily research) careers.
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From page 78... ...
The employment, grant, and publication activity of biomedical scientists with NIH postdoctoral appointments is being compared to that of biomedical scientists without NIH postdoctoral appointments. Due to the differences in career patterns and sources of data, separate analyses will be conducted for M.D.
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