Non-Traditional Research Opportunities PowerPoint presentation by Lakshmi Santhanam, Ph.D. Department of Anesthesiology & CCM Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Talk given by Lacy A. Holowatz, Ph.D. Pennsylvania State University

Hopkins Faculty Appointments Clinical Faculty – Degrees – MD (or equivalent), MD/PhD – Roles Physician Scientist (Research and Clinical Role) Physician (Clinical only, usually faculty appointment) Research Faculty – Degrees – MD/PhD; PhD (typical); MD (rare) – Role – Build research programs and portfolio

Full Time Faculty Tenure track – Instructor (yearly appointment, renewable twice) – Assistant Professor (1 – 5 yr appointment) – Associate Professor (minimum 3 years) – Professor (Contracts to retirement = Tenure) Salary must be covered by grants Promotions committee evaluates candidate based on Research, Education, Clinical Distinction, Program Building

What Does Tenure Mean? Contracts are to retirement BUT, contract can be terminated: a)Just cause – incompetence, neglect of duty, academic/scientific misconduct, misconduct in office b)Financial exigency: budgetary deficit leading to reduction of faculty or reduction of salary by 20% per year

Part-Time Faculty Lecturer, Research Associate, Visiting Scientist, Guest Faculty – Typically a 1 – year appointment – Appointments depend on immediate and long-term needs of hiring department – At the end of the first year, candidate is assessed and either promoted, reappointed at same rank, or terminated Promotion considerations – Scholarly activity (publications); Education, Clinical Distinction, Program Building, and Service

Other Full-time Research Appointments Research Associate Lab Technician/Manager (Senior Staff) Institutional and Departmental Core Facilities – Includes Animal Behavior, Transgenic Mouse, Phenotyping, Genomic, Proteomic, Microscopy Cores, MRI Service Center, Radiology Research Labs, Research Animal Resources Salaries range from $36,000 – cap (varies by department/division in the School of Medicine)

….SO, WHY CHOOSE NON-TRADITIONAL APPOINTMENTS?

1. Quality of Life Grants, grants, grants – Paylines have dropped Number of applications have increased Pressure to publish in high impact journals Little time to teaching/mentoring Little or no time to enjoy Science

1. Quality of Life Flexible work hours; spend time with family and friends PI guarantees salary – Still need to contribute towards writing manuscripts and grants, but not solely responsible Core facilities are often university or department funded

2. Benefits package All faculty and senior staff get the following: – 403 (b) - maximum contribution in is USD 16,500 – University’s contribution: 2 years of service or age 35 yrs (whichever comes first); 6% of base salary; 12% after age 35. – Annual 2 – 3 % salary increment – USD 900 “benefit dollars” for health, life, and disability insurance – The “use it or lose it” Flexible Spending account – tax protected spending account (1 per family) for child care, elder care, medical expenses.

Benefits - continued – Dependent Care Voucher program – up to $5000/ yr to cover dependent care. Total family income not to exceed $50,000 to qualify. – Tuition Grant – Payment of tuition/mandatory fees up to 50 % of JHU freshman tuition – Tuition Reimbursement – 100 % for professional development credit and 80% for non-credit personal enrichment courses at Hopkins

4. Spend Time on Teaching Less administrative responsibilities than tenure-track faculty No “tenure-clock” or “promotion-clock” ticking Autonomy in designing and executing experiments 3. Spend Time on Science Trainees in lab depend on experienced scientists for hands-on learning Contact with students/co-workers is high on job- satisfaction criteria

5. Immigration University sponsored H1-B1’s are exempt from the yearly cap University sponsored green cards - easier to establish extraordinary intellectual ability/ highly skilled worker requirements

Choosing a Lab Personality – meet all lab members and PI before making a decision Talk to former lab members if possible Determine lab turnover – how many years have existing members worked in the lab?

Future Growth Tenure track appointment Things to do – Write grants, publish, and build good- will in the department/university Build experience/expertise and apply for jobs in the industry Things to do – Acquire breadth of research experience, build administrative/management experience

Suggested Reading 1. “Give postdocs a career, not empty promises”; Jennifer Rohn, Nature 471, 7 (2011) | doi: /471007a, Published online 2 March “In person: falling off the ladder: how not to succeed in academia”; Kathy Weston, Science, 2011 (Feb 4 th ) s_issues/articles/2011_02_04/caredit.a

Acknowledgements Ms Nancy Edwards (HR Manager, ACCM) Ms Mary Foy (Associate Dean, Registrar’s office)