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NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.
This project was supported by Grant No. 98-1 between the Lucille P. Markey Charitable Trust and the National Academy of Sciences. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations or agencies that provided support for the project.
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COMMITTEE FOR THE EVALUATION OF THE LUCILLE P. MARKEY CHARITABLE TRUST PROGRAMS IN BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES
Lee Sechrest,
University of Arizona,
Chair
Enriqueta Bond, (IOM),
Burroughs-Wellcome Fund
William T. Butler (IOM),
Baylor College of Medicine
Elaine K. Gallin,
Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
Mary-Lou Pardue (NAS),
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Georgine Pion,
Vanderbilt University
Lloyd H. Smith (IOM),
University of California, San Francisco (Ret.)
Virginia V. Weldon (IOM),
Monsanto Company (Ret.)
James Wyngaarden (IOM),
Duke University (Ret.)
Staff
Peter H. Henderson, Director, Board on Higher Education and Workforce
George R. Reinhart, Senior Program Officer and Study Director
Krystyna Isaacs, Consultant
BOARD ON HIGHER EDUCATION AND WORKFORCE
Ronald G. Ehrenberg,
Cornell University,
Chair
Bert Barnow,
Johns Hopkins University
Donald L. Bitzer,
North Carolina State University
Carlos G. Gutierrez,
California State University, Los Angeles
Donald L. Johnson,
Grain Processing Corporation (Ret.)
Claudia Mitchell-Kernan,
University of California, Los Angeles
Michael T. Nettles,
Educational Testing Service
Debra W. Stewart,
The Council of Graduate Schools
Tadataka Yamada,
GlaxoSmithKline
Staff
Peter Henderson, Director, Board on Higher Education and Workforce
Rae Allen, Administrative Associate
Preface
In response to a request by the Lucille P. Markey Charitable Trust, the National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academies, through the Board on Higher Education and Workforce (BHEW), is conducting an evaluation of the Markey Trust’s grant programs in the biomedical sciences. During an interval of 15 years, the Markey Trust spent over $500 million on four programs in the basic biomedical sciences that supported the education and research of graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, junior faculty, and senior researchers. This project addresses two questions: “were these funds well spent?” and “what can others in the biomedical and philanthropic communities learn from the programs of the Markey Trust?”
To accomplish these goals, the committee overseeing the project:
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examined the General Organizational Grants program, intended to catalyze new ways to train Ph.D. and M.D. students in translational research;
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convened a conference of Markey Scholars and Visiting Fellows in 2002;
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reviewed the Research Programs Grants, which provided funding to institutions to support the work of senior investigators; vevaluated the program for Markey Scholars and Visiting Fellows, which supported young biomedical investigators in their early careers; and
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conducted a workshop to investigate methods used to evaluate funding of biomedical science by philanthropic donors.
This is the fifth in a series of reports that document the activities of the Markey Trust. This report examines the Markey Scholars in Biomedical Science and the Markey Visiting Fellows programs, funded by the Markey Trust between 1985 and 1995. The Markey Scholars program funded outstanding biomedical researchers for up to seven years, focusing on the transition from the postdoctorate to junior faculty status. The goal of the program was to ensure maximum productivity, intellectual growth, and independent research among grantees. The Markey Visiting Fellows program provided two years of postdoctoral funding for outstanding young scientists from the United Kingdom and Australia at leading American research institutions. This report examines the career paths and research outcomes of the Markey grantees and, in the case of the Markey Scholars, examines their progress relative to that of a comparison group. The report also details the Scholar selection process and its impact on Scholar outcomes. Finally, the report makes recommendations to other philanthropic funders of biomedical researchers.
Previously published reports in this series detailing the activities of the Markey Trust are (1) Bridging the Bed-Bench Gap: Contributions of the Markey Trust, which examined the General Organizational Grants program; (2) The Markey Scholars Conference Proceedings, which summarized presentations and abstracts from the 2002 Markey Scholars Conference held as part of the National Academies evaluation; (3) Funding Biomedical Research Programs: Contributions of the Markey Trust, which reviewed the Research Program Grants, and (4) Enhancing Philanthropy’s Support of Biomedical Scientists: Proceedings of a Workshop on Evaluation, which presented a series of papers on evaluation presented at a workshop conducted by the National Academies. All reports are available through the National Academies Press.
This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the National Academies’ Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making its published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the process.
We wish to thank the following individuals for their review of this report: Howard Garrison, Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology; Paul Klotman, Mount Sinai Medical Center; Michael Leibowitz, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School; Henry Riecken, University of Pennsylvania; Nancy Street, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center; and Keith Yamamoto, University of California, San Francisco.
Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations, nor did they see the final draft of the report before its release. The review of this report was overseen by Lyle Jones, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Appointed by the National Academies, he was responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the institution.
The production of this report was the result of planning and oversight for a sustained period of time by the study Committee. I wish to thank Krystyna Isaacs for her outstanding assistance to this report. She interviewed all the Markey Scholars and Visiting Fellows, transcribed and compiled their responses, and contributed to the sections of the report that describe the outcomes of the interviews. George Reinhart, Study Director, ably assisted the committee in this study.
Lee Sechrest
Chair
Committee for the Evaluation of the Lucille P. Markey Charitable Trust Programs in Biomedical Sciences
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TABLES
2-1 |
Initial Scholar Stipend and Research Allowance Schedule, |
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2-2 |
Number and Characteristics of Nominations for Markey Scholar Awards in Biomedical Science, by Year, |
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2-3 |
Number of Markey Scholar Nominations, by Nomination Outcome and Year, |
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2-4 |
Percentage of Applicants who were Women at the Stages of the Markey Award Pathway, |
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2-5 |
Number of Markey Scholars, by Gender and Degree, |
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3-1 |
Schedule of Markey Scholar and Comparison Group Interviews, |
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3-2 |
Number of Comparison Group Members, by Level of Contact, |
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4-1 |
Differences Among Markey Scholars, Top-Ranked, and Competitive Candidates in Academia on Selected Outcome Measures, |
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4-2 |
Number and Percentage of Markey Scholars and Top-Ranked and Competitive Candidates in Academia by Faculty Rank, |
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4-3 |
Mean and Median Number of Journal Articles for Markey Scholars, Top-Ranked Candidates, and Competitive Candidates, by Cycle and Overall, |
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4-4 |
Mean and Median Number of Citations per Individual and Mean Citations per Article for Markey Scholars, Top-Ranked Candidates, and Competitive Candidates, |
4-5 |
Differences in Grant Awards Among Markey Scholars, Top-Ranked Candidates, and Competitive Candidates, |
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4-6 |
Differences in Grant Awards Among Markey Scholars, Top-Ranked Candidates, and Competitive Candidates in Academia, |
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4-7 |
Percentage Claiming Independence, by Degree and Group, |
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4-8 |
Percentage Claiming Independence, by Gender and Group, |
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4-9 |
Percentage Distribution of Reasons for Selecting First Professional Position, by Group, |
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4-10 |
Number Who Changed Institutions Between the Completion of Training and Commencement of First Faculty Appointment, by Group and Degree, |
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4-11 |
Number Who Left Academic Bench Science by the Time of Interview, by Group, |
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4-12 |
Number of Principal Investigators in Academia, by Laboratory Size and Group, |
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4-13 |
Percentage of Interviewees Engaged in Commercial Interests, by Type of Interest and Group, |
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4-14 |
Percentage of Interviewees Engaged in Clinical or Translational Research, by Group, |
FIGURE
C-1 |
Distribution of Markey Funding Across Programs and Grant Making, |