(Some) Research Fellowships (at UCSF)

A few caveats to start.

There are many flavors of research fellowship. A “T32” is a type funded by a training grant the National Institutes of Health or similar government funding organization. In general, it provides funding for the scholar to have salary and freedom to pursue mentored research of their own choice while engaging in career development opportunities. There are both predoctoral or postdoctoral fellowships, but I’ll be speaking specifically to postdoctoral fellowships.

(In contrast, there are also postdoctoral fellowships funded by R01s or equivalents where the fellow is an integral team member in achieving the specific research goals of the proposed project; the fellow may have less ability to pursue research outside the scope of the grant and there may be fewer associated career development supports). Fellowship experiences also vary widely based on the ethos of the host Department/Division, the leadership, the size of the cohort, and similar factors.

That being said, here’s what I’ve gleaned about “good” postdoctoral training programs from the variety I’ve seen at three different institutions.

First: to start a postdoctoral research fellowship. While a few people come into fellowship quite clear about research topics, mentors, career goals, and processes for getting there, this is uncommon.

Many people come into fellowship debating several potential career paths (e.g. pursuing a path to become an independent researcher and principal investigator; clinician who does a little research on the side; leader and quality improvement expert; administrator; etc). Ideally, a common thread is the person is considering seeking a role as a principal investigator (PI) as a faculty member or in a non-academic research group, perhaps even as their first choice option. Realistically, the goal of the fellow is often to find a paying job and to figure out what they want to do with their next phase of life.

The best fellowship programs provide training and support that help fellows figure out what they want to do next, and how to get to that goal. The altruistic goal of the fellowship director is to help fellows figure out the best, most fulfilling job (or job path) to take next.

The “selfish” goal of the fellowship directors is to have many fellow successes (papers, grants, presentations, faculty positions) to report in yearly progress reports to the funders in the hopes of being re-funded every 4-5 years. To be clear, this is still altruistic, because it’s focused on supporting more fellows over time. At UCSF, I don’t know of T32 program directors who get paid for their work from the grant - all the funding goes to support fellows. In fact, sometimes Departments or Divisions have to raise additional funds to provide a competitive (barely sufficient) salary for trainees or additional training resources like tuition, computers, and books for classes.

Second: figuring out what you want to be when you grow up.

Start by looking at the people like you who are 5-10 years ahead of you (e.g. faculty in the Department or Division or School where people with your training/credentials are hired): do you like them as people and as researchers? What do you know about their lives - do they seem to have time for things you would want or value (exercise, hobbies, families)?

Does their professional work seem to include work you think you would enjoy doing? For example, researchers do a lot of writing (and rewriting) grants and papers. They have to be ready to fail a lot and improve things and try again - both in their science and in submission of papers and grants. They have to think creatively about presenting findings in figures and grants, and to prepare different messages to different audiences. It’s very much an attitude of life-long learning. In my field, researchers have to prefer to understand and address the problems of populations - or at least communities or large numbers of people - versus helping large numbers of individual patients.

Are you willing to have a plan B and C and D? In schools of medicine, researchers are often 100% soft-money positions, which means they apply to grants to cover all of their salary and benefits, whatever they need to do their research, and the salary and benefits of any staff (or partial effort from staff) they want to work with. This can be…really challenging. Not everyone is willing to tolerate this amount of uncertainty, or get tired of it over time.

Personally, my plan is try to academic research as long as it seemed feasible and adequately fun. When that is no longer true, I plan to turn to other roles, other jobs, where I can make positive contributions to the world.

Third: using your fellowship to pursue a career as a PI-researcher. Typically, to be an outstanding candidate for a research faculty position, it helps to have a good score on a grant, a track record of grant success, or an awarded grant. Many research fellowships are two years in length so you can plan your goals and projects by working backwards from this goal.

To have a good score on a grant by the time job season comes around (spring before the summer you aim to join faculty, at the latest), people typically submit one or more grants in the fall and winter of their second year (occasionally in June of their first year).

To be good candidates for grant applications, you need published peer-reviewed research manuscripts. Depending on discipline, training stage, and funder, 8-12 total publications might be a helpful number, of which 3-5 might be first-authored. Such a track record would show that you can bring research projects to completion.

To have enough publications, you need to start or join research projects that you can write up, ideally while working with senior authors you are considering recruiting as mentors for your career development grant.

Here’s a potential map for a fellowship if you are testing out the idea of a PI-track research role first. Note: It is ok to change your mind (multiple times) during the course of your fellowship and career about what type of role will best suit you in this season of your life. Personally, I have weaved back and forth from contract research companies, to academia, to community-based organizations, back to academia. Though there were times that path felt like a liability, it has ultimately made me a more creative and knowledgeable asset as an employee, with greater confidence in career options given my goals.

Year 1:

July: try to get your bearings about requirements and standards and acronyms and norms. When you’re totally overwhelmed, listen to how faculty ask questions. Ask your program director and/or mentor (if you have one) and/or a junior faculty member who is great at teaching what is going on.

August - October: start figuring out potential research projects/manuscripts. Prioritize those with mentors you might want to work with and on topics relevant to what you are most interested. Start identifying conferences to submit abstracts to, to network and get your name out as a promising junior investigator.

October-January: focus on writing papers and also pay attention to which topics, mentors, and collaborators you most enjoy working with.

Work with mentors to submit conference abstracts (deadlines are discipline dependent but this is the timeline for many professional conferences in geriatrics, palliative care, and policy). Pre-pandemic, presentations in spring of year 1 of fellowship in a 2-year fellowship were highest value because they let you begin showcasing your talent and network with potential hiring directors about what needs they have or what positions they might be hiring for in spring of your second year.

If you are looking for jobs both at your current university and elsewhere, you also want to start meeting with your potential boss (e.g. the person who would hire you, like a Department or Division Chair) to find out what they’re looking for in potential candidates and to ensure you are on a path towards acheiving those benchmarks. Find out if they would be willing to write letters of institutional support for fellows interested in submitting career development awards.

January - April: Start splitting your attention between writing papers and developing ideas for specific aims for potential career development awards. Career development awards (like an NIH K01, K23, or K76) are investments in you as a potential investigator and require figuring out who might be the best mentor(s) for your career goals and style, ideally those with track records of success mentoring trainees/junior faculty through a K (mentored award) to an R (independent award). These mentors may change over time. You might write up aims pages for 4-5 different ideas ore more before you choose one to write up.

Year 2:

July - Aug: Continue tinkering with aims pages, outline training & mentoring plans, request letters of support and reference. If you have any leftover bandwidth, continue working on papers.

Aug - Dec: Apply to jobs (this can vary, includes sending emails with CV and cover letter); write & submit grant applications.

Simultaneously, submit another conference abstract if you have bandwidth and your work is the right stage. Depending when your professional conference occurs, this could still be fruitful timing for networking and negotiating.

Note: it feels very uncomfortable and draining to apply for grants at one institution while also applying for jobs nation-wide. This is normal. You should do a national job search if there is more than a 5% chance of you leaving the institution where you are doing your fellowship training. First, because it let’s you see what else is out there, build relationships, think creatively about your research and job. Second, because it helps others see how great your work is.

Work on finishing grant application if you are hoping to stay at your institution. If you 95% want to leave the institution you are training at, do not finish/submit the grant - outline it so that you can adapt it and quickly submit it to the institution you are ultimately hired at.

Oct-Dec: Initial conversations to judge potential, first “visit” with job talk. (Also submit grant if relevant)

Dec - March: Second visits (figuring out if it will work for your whole life, including family) and determining what you need to be successful at each institution to which you’re applying.

Also, continue your research papers & publishing endeavors.

March - May: Negotiate job offers, agonize over decisions.

June: Graduate

July - October: take some time off, then start new job

Obviously, this is not true for all postdocs (as there are many connected to specific research grants rather than training grants) and is oriented towards jobs that work on an academic schedule.

The most important result of a fellowship program is that you figure out what is the best next step for you (and family/anyone you choose to factor into your decision). And again, you can change your mind.

For resources on other sorts of job searches, especially outside academia, I recommend the book, podcast, blog, and consulting resources of The Professor is In. Every subfield has its own idiosyncrasies.

What did I miss? What would you add?