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Postdocs find more defined futures at MUSC by Mary Helen Yarborough Public Relations With funding sources for research growing more scarce, many highly qualified scientists wander universities waiting for a job after completion of their doctoral studies. The number of these postdoctoral scientists greatly outnumber faculty openings.   At MUSC, conditions for this critical population of researchers have been greatly improved in the last year due to the establishment of a postdoctoral affairs office in the College of Graduate Studies.   This new office also provided postdocs a more defined “official” identity.  New programs and benefits, such as a family leave policy, access to university health benefits for fellows and career development opportunities, are addressing long-standing problems. Much of this progress would not have been possible without the collaborative efforts of College of Medicine business managers and the MUSC Finance and Administration division, said Ed Krug, Ph.D., assistant dean of  MUSC’s Postdoctoral Affairs. One particularly recent noteworthy accomplishment is the creation of a “staff scientist” classification at MUSC, Krug said. This gives postdoctoral researchers an intermediate step between trainee and faculty positions.   Dr. Ed Krug Krug, a 15-year MUSC veteran, understood the dilemma facing these scientists because he once was a postdoc. He was one of the lucky ones, though, since he did not have a problem landing an apprenticeship under a noted researcher and a mentor who was generous with insight and guidance.   Now, with Krug’s help, the estimated 240 postdocs at MUSC are much better off and their future appears brighter. To help themselves, the postdocs have formed their own association, and they have established working groups addressing a variety of professional development issues. They have a growing number of mentors like Krug to work with on developing a career path.   Krug reflected on his own experience as a young postdoc. When finishing up his doctoral studies in biochemistry at Purdue University, he began looking for a new scientific direction.   “I was interested in other fields, so I went to a meeting on extracellular matrix, an area of which I had no knowledge,” Krug said. During that small meeting in Midland, Mich., he met Roger Markwald, Ph.D., now MUSC’s chair of Cell Biology and Anatomy; and Distinguished University Professor. Krug became interested and took a postdoc position with Markwald, exploring the mechanisms of early heart development.   Markwald would eventually lead Krug to MUSC where he is  applying new proteomic technologies to assess the formation of valves and septation processes in the embryonic heart as part of the MUSC Cardiovascular Proteomics Center.   Krug has long mentored postdocs at MUSC and other universities, but now as assistant dean of Postdoctoral Affairs, it is among his official duties.   “I  worked with Dr. Krug for quite a while and I saw his passion for helping individuals develop those critical skills that are needed to have a successful career,” said Perry Halushka, M.D., Ph.D., dean of the College of Graduate Studies. “Thus, I was delighted when he accepted the offer to become the first assistant dean for Postdoctoral Affairs for the College of Graduate Studies. Dr. Krug has exceeded my greatest expectations and created an environment for postdoctoral fellows that is truly outstanding. Because of his efforts, the institution will be able to attract outstanding postdoctoral fellows in the future.”   As more postdocs are spending an entire career at that level, Krug urges goal-setting to help direct them to become more competitive for faculty positions.   “When I meet a new postdoc I say, ‘Nice to meet you. Now when are you leaving here?’,” Krug said with a chuckle. “It shocks them, but you must realize that these people are highly qualified professionals, yet many of them lack a focused career direction. That is the basis of asking them when they are leaving, in essence, because you want them to establish a plan. The result of not having an individual development plan is often the ‘career postdoc,’ or the one that is prone to be disgruntled, at the very least.”   Unlike graduate students who have advisors and active mentors who nurture them, postdocs generally are not guided beyond a specific project. So Krug and other MUSC faculty are working with postdocs on goal-setting and career-mapping.   Goals don’t always match opportunities, however. Postdocs come in by way of a principle investigator on a particular project that pays them to work as a critical researcher on the project. Given the highly competitive nature of funding, it is easy for the postdoc to lose focus of longer term interests to help maintain productivity on the project. The Postdoctoral Affairs office and the Post- doctoral Association are working cooperatively to bring balance back to the equation.   MUSC has taken two approaches to providing additional options for postdoctoral researchers, Krug said. One was to provide financial support for those seeking significant training in pedagogy, or an instructor who strategically challenges students to achievement. The financial support is intended to enhance the postdoc’s competitiveness for academic positions.   Two grants were secured last year through the National Institutes of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) that together provide full salary support for five postdoctoral scholars to devote 25 percent of their effort in a mentored teaching experience at a primarily undergraduate institution. These postdocs also have the benefit of career development advice from multiple mentors and an advisory board, Krug said.   An example of a program that recently evolved from this effort is the MUSC-Claflin grant that will enable postdocs to teach at Claflin.   Many challenges remain for the years to come, but MUSC is not alone in this context—similar problems plague research-intensive universities nation-wide,  Krug said. The Postdoctoral Affairs office is collaborating with similar administrative arms elsewhere via participation in the National Post-doctoral Association and the AAMC GREAT (Graduate Research, Education and Training) Group to address these issues in ways that facilitate both the professional growth of postdocs and the research interprize of MUSC as a whole.   For more information on MUSC’s postdoc program, go to http://www.musc.edu/grad/postdoc/.     Friday, Aug. 17, 2007 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to catalyst@musc.edu. 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