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APPENDIX D 85 preventing mental disorders. DHHS Publication No. (ADM) 901713. 6. Aiken, L.S., S.G. West, L. Sechrest, and R.R. Reno. (1990). Graduate training in statistics, methodology, and measurement in psychology: A survey of Ph.D. programs in North America. American Psychologist, 45, pp. 721-734. 7. The program at Yale was not refunded when the PI moved to another university. 8. The programs at Johns Hopkins and at Arizona State University are affiliated with Preventive Intervention Research Centers. STATEMENT BY PETER R. SHANK, Ph.D. Let me first state that I am probably an inappropriate member of this particular panel since I am not the director of a training grant. I have, however, recently been named Associate Dean of Medicine and Biological Sciences at Brown, and as such am directly responsible for the various Ph.D. programs within the Division of Biology and Medicine at Brown as well as the M.D./Ph.D. program. You have actually heard earlier this morning from the current director of one of our training grants, Dr. David Brautigan, speaking on behalf of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, as well as one of the past directors, Dr. Susan Gerbi, speaking on behalf of the American Society of Cell Biology. My perspective will be from one who was the recipient of both predoctoral and postdoctoral training grant support. In this time of âbelt tighteningâ I think it will be critical for your report to convey the critical nature of NRSA support. I believe one of the major challenges faced today in the United States is the continued development of scientists who are willing to enter academic careers. Those individuals are becoming an âendangered species.â With projected faculty retirements by the end of the century approaching 30 percent, the concern is obvious. The teaching/training role of the academic scientist is underappreciated both within the university and in the general public. I was particularly concerned when reading a summary of former Science Advisor Bromleyâs PCAST report suggesting that universities must be prepared to cut research programs and emphasize teaching. There would appear to be no appreciation of the integral role of research in training scientists within this report. If the academic scientist is unable to maintain a research program, the quality of his teaching/training programs will fall dramatically. This will be followed by a failure to attract top quality scientists into academic research and subsequently by a failure to attract top quality students into graduate education. I believe this process has already begun. When young graduate students see mature and established scientists struggling to maintain minimal research support they say, âNo way!â A major force driving top quality students out of academic research is the present level of research funding. While I realize that the NRC has no direct control over the level of research funding, I believe this represents a critical threat to the continuing supply of research scientists. With regards to improvements in the NRSA program, I would like to separate predoctoral and postdoctoral programs. One of the strengths of the predoctoral training grants at Brown is that they are all interdepartmental, bringing together faculty from many different disciplines. This interdisciplinary approach is a particularly important aspect in such fields as toxicology and environmental science. Similarly our Molecular and Cell Biology & Biochemistry program offers students a broadly-based background in the biological sciences. NRSA support is given only to our best students, and although it represents a minority of our studentsâ funding, it is an essential component of our graduate programs. With regard to the postdoctoral programs, I believe we need to focus more on the trainee than the sponsor. I believe a strong case can be made for limiting the number of NRSA postdoctorals in any given laboratory (perhaps four). This limitation would tend to encourage the training aspects of the postdoctoral fellowship. One mechanism to accomplish this goal would be to encourage more postdoctoral training grants and less individual awards. With regards to both women and minorities, I believe early identification is critical. Brown University, under the direction of Dr. James Wyche, runs a number of early identification programs for minority students, and I would like to comment briefly on those. The underrepresentation of minorities is shocking. Of 24,190 Ph.D.s awarded in 1990 to Americans, 828 went to Blacks, 689 to Hispanics, and 93 to Native Americans. Sadly, these numbers are declining over time. From 1980 to 1990 the number of Ph.D.s increased nationally by 16 percent while those awarded to African Americans declined by 20 percent and for African American males the decline was 50 percent!
