- Not that Kind of Boss: Tales of Team Management and Mentorship
One of the more challenging aspects of being a principal investigator (PI) and running a research lab is people management. Labs are complex environments comprising hourly technicians, salaried research scientists, undergraduates in their first lab, graduate students in training,...
- One-Minute Writing Tuneup: Correcting Comparisons
A rule to instantly improve your writing: "Compared to" (or "compared with") never replaces "than" without a sentence rewrite.
This construct is common in academic work, and misuse is understandable. Often the sentence does make a comparison. However, using "compared to" in plac...
- How to Get a K24
Four recipients of K24 Midcareer Investigator Award in Patient-Oriented Research awards shared their best advice for writing these grants that protect time for independent investigators at the Assistant or Associate Professor level to mentor. (More on why you should write a K24.)...
- Why Write a K24?
[caption id="attachment_8487" align="alignright" width="295"] Success rates for 2018 & 2019 from NIH RePORTER. Click to view larger image.[/caption]
Midcareer faculty often wish for more support and time to mentor, but many aren’t aware that NIH has a mechanism that does e...
- Your Guide to the Unspoken Rules of a Career in Academics
Not Discussed: The Unspoken Rules for a Career in Academic Medical Research is a travel guide for academics at any stage of their careers. Instead of Rick Steves, it’s a master mentor giving you the tips and tricks for getting the most out of a research career, as well as the pit...
- Even More Cranky
Since the holy trinity important things have come in threes—listen up. Not all beautiful things are functional or practical. Think white upholstery, stiletto heels in the lab, bilateral justification of your grants. Bilateral justification is from the devil. It’s a cognitive drai...
- Don’t Let Your Research Questions Go Out Without PICOTS
All the best aims are wearing PICOTS (pronounced “peacoats”). Specification of your PICOTS* is the minimum outerwear required to prevent your research question from being caught in a downpour of questions. Having these details tucked in gets you ready to have a meaningful convers...
- Sharpen Your Research Skills, Boost Your Career with a Mini-sabbatical
Dr. Courtney Peterson, assistant professor in the Department of Nutrition Sciences at University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), is having a very good year.
Her pioneering work on early time-restricted feeding (eTRF) in humans, shown to improve health even in the absence of we...
- Getting Your Ducks in a Row for that First Big Grant Submission
So you are sailing high with your K career development award ready to pounce on your next grant submission! But what do you need to reach that next milestone, i.e. “independent” funding such as a R01—the currency of academic medical research? Well, you better start thinking abo...
- Not that Kind of Decision: Tales of Debating a Pre-Tenure Switch
One of the hardest questions that has recently come up in my professional life is debating changing institutions pre-tenure. I came to my medical school not that long ago. Over the past year and change, I have set up my laboratory, hired personnel, committed to thesis committees,...
