NIH's Road Map to a Better Postdoc Experience

Policy IQ

NIH's Road Map to a Better Postdoc Experience
Working group calls for improvements to postdoctoral life, including a $70,000 minimum stipend.

Increasing salaries for postdoctoral researchers is an important first step to addressing the postdoc shortage—but it shouldn’t be the only step. That is the conclusion of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Working Group on Re-envisioning NIH-Supported Postdoctoral Training, which released its final report in December 2023. The report contains six concrete recommendations to improve the postdoc experience. The group’s first recommendation to increase the minimum National Research Service Award postdoctoral stipend to $70,000 grabbed headlines, but challenges in meeting the recommended pay level should not overshadow other ideas in the report.

The group developed the report after more than a year of information gathering through public listening sessions and a request for information, which received over 3,000 comments, including from APS. 

MORE THAN A SALARY INCREASE 

In an analysis of these comments, the working group noted that salary and benefits were the most frequently cited postdoc concerns. Other challenges there were highlighted include job insecurity, harassment, a lack of support for career development skills training, and limited career prospects in academia. With only 1 in 4 life science postdocs achieving a tenure-track faculty position within six years, postdoctoral training must prepare scholars for a broader range of careers.

In addition to proposing a salary hike and that postdocs receive the full benefits of an employee (including dependent care coverage and retirement savings), the working group’s report recommends limiting a postdoc to a five-year timeframe. Several suggestions are given to support this timeline and to facilitate career transition.

For example, the report describes a revision of the K99/R00 mechanism to target early postdocs and provide a more stable and structured path toward an independent research career. Professional development and skill training are also emphasized, with a proposal that postdocs spend a minimum of 10% of their effort on these activities and that mentors be held accountable for reporting on mentoring activities as part of the Research Performance Progress Report.

Because most postdocs don’t end up in tenure-track research positions, it is critical that they have opportunities for professional development targeted at other career tracks. Many postdocs go on to pursue opportunities in industry, government or nonprofits, supported by the technical knowledge and investigative skills they learned at the bench. 

Although the report encourages NIH to support postdocs seeking these career transitions, the recommendation is short on details, suggesting that NIH seek collaboration in these various sectors. However, the report does recommend a robust expansion of a staff scientist career track, one which postdocs often end up in after a somewhat blurry transition period. The recommendation would establish staff scientists as meaningfully different from postdocs, with higher compensation and support on NIH grants.   

LONG OVERDUE CHANGES

Even setting aside the recommended salary increase, the working group’s report could result in substantial changes to the postdoc experience. The group incorporated many of the suggestions provided in APS’ comment into its final report, including outlining employee benefits for postdocs, providing structured training and timelines, and including training for a diverse range of career paths. It remains to be seen whether NIH is able to implement the plan set forth in the report. 

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This article was originally published in the May 2024 issue of The Physiologist Magazine. Copyright © 2024 by the American Physiological Society. Send questions or comments to tphysmag@physiology.org.