Poll Results: Things I Wish I Learned in Graduate School
Posted on 1/1/0001 12:00:00 AM
|
Tags:
We asked you to tell us which things you feel are lacking in current Pharmacology Graduate education, by ranking five topics. The chart below shows the distribution of priorities among the choices provided (note: many people did not include all listed items in their ranking):
(click for larger image)
We also provided a place to fill in an "Other" item, so that you could vote for things not in that list. Most of the 175 "Other" items could be grouped into these categories:
Business/Leadership
Skills | 28 |
Career
Development | 25 |
Grantsmanship | 16 |
Drug
Discovery/Development | 13 |
Presentation
Skills | 10 |
Medical/Clinical
Pharmacology | 9 |
Broad Pharmacology Knowledge | 8 |
Critical Thinking/Data Analysis | 8 |
Pharmacokinetics/Pharmacodynamics | 7 |
Pathology/Physiology | 6 |
Pharmacogenomics | 5 |
Although it is difficult to concisely do justice to all of the responses, at least two clear themes seemed to emerge. First, we sensed broad agreement that there is an urgent need for better training in aspects of being a successful scientist that are not related specifically to pharmacological sciences, including scientific writing & presentation, planning & preparing grant applications, gaining business & political skills needed to survive in competitive environments, and career development in general. These sentiments were reflected in many of the comments received:
"Writing is one of the most important and universal areas of research regardless of the setting or career level. However, it is unfortunately miniaturized during graduate school. It should be taught as a core class along with the other science courses." (Postdoctoral Trainee - Academia)
"...Very few programs, if any, provide THE most important information...'what are my career options?!'..." (Senior Faculty/Investigator - Industry)
"It is also very important for trainees to understand all of the various career options that are available to them with Biomedical training. This is something that is rarely covered in graduate & post graduate training yet something that is critical for planning one's career." (Junior Faculty/Investigator - Academia)
The other prevalent theme was strong support for more thorough coverage of applied topics, especially medical pharmacology, drug discovery/development, pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics and other areas with translational impact:
"As a pharmacology professor, I [am] teaching many health professionals (Medical, dental, nursing, physician assistants, etc). I think it is very important that the new graduates get exposed to clinical pharmacology (it should be a MUST for all those going into academia, not an option)..." (Senior Faulty/Investigator - Academia)
"Unfortunately, most graduating pharmacologists do not have the tools to address drug design/PK studies that are used routinely by our desired employers (pharm companies)..." (Postdoctoral Trainee - Academia)
"Like other related graduate programs, Pharmacology training is focused on training researchers for academia, with little or no emphasis on industry." (Graduate Student - Academia)
Although many insightful comments were made, perhaps the most important came from this Graduate Student:
"Many similar surveys and discussions have taken place about the subject matter addressed here. The problem is that no one is doing anything about it. How is ASPET moving toward a solution to this constant void in graduate education and training?"
Does your program/department address these areas well?
If so, how?
What do YOU think that ASPET should do?
Please join the conversation by making a comment below...
[ASPET members can subscribe to this post (i.e., follow comments via Email) by logging in and then clicking the envelope icon that will be shown below the title]