Meeting the Nation's Needs for Biomedical and Behavioral Scientists: Summary of the 1993 Public Hearings (1994)

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APPENDIX D 93 community to celebrate science and mathematics and to encourage very young children to begin to focus on careers in science and mathematics, with particular emphasis upon biomedical and behavioral research. Local experiences in Los Angeles between our USC Schools of Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, and Pharmacy with the K-12 Los Angeles Unified School District have been extremely rewarding. The creation of a new high school dedicated to careers in the health sciences (Francisco Bravo Medical Magnet) adjacent to a teaching hospital environment provides an outstanding experiment for secondary school recruitment of historically underrepresented minorities into the health sciences at our university. NRSA programs forming partnerships with the NIH-sponsored Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) as well as the NIH Minority Supplement Programs give “value added” opportunities to identify and nurture future scientists from a multicultural society. New coalitions between university-based professionals supported by NIH or NSF funds and K-6 teachers provide additional opportunities to nurture science and mathematics in the next generation. There are several successful models-for example, the efforts of Bruce Alberts, the new director of the National Academy of Sciences, linking the University of California-San Francisco health sciences faculty with elementary school teachers (K-6) from the San Francisco public schools, and our own efforts in Los Angeles to link the USC Health Sciences with 24 inner-city elementary schools through an NSF-sponsored program called “PRAXIS.” Finally, NRSA trainees should be educated and provided with skills for multidisciplinary research, collaborative research, and often research which engages team-based expertise from university, federal, and private industry laboratories. We have every reason to believe that the ideal preparation for the future of biomedical and behavioral research personnel is to equip people with the skills to address changing challenges in a rapidly changing environment. Your Committee has the responsibility to outline the research personnel needed in biomedical and behavioral research, including specific recommendations for certain disciplines including dentistry. My Association would welcome a specific report for oral health personnel and are prepared to work with your Committee to achieve this. The 1985 report was extremely helpful in advising Congress and in planning future manpower requirements. This Committee has been the instrument for long-range investment in the intellectual capital of dental research. Your efforts can continue to provide the essential research work force required for the unique challenges in dental education and oral health research. I urge you to support the continued opportunities for dental graduates to pursue research careers in the biomedical and behavioral sciences. STATEMENT BY ORA A. WEISZ As a very grateful recipient of an NRSA postdoctoral fellowship due to expire this July, I can honestly say that my NRSA has provided me with scientific independence and flexibility, and has greatly enhanced my postdoctoral experience at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. I would like to focus my comments to the Committee towards two questions. “How can we recruit today’s young people, and minorities in particular, to scientific careers?” This must involve a concentrated effort to increase the level of interest in science starting in elementary school. The second question is, “What can the NRSA program do achieve this goal?” Do everything possible to stabilize young researchers in the form of training grants and employment opportunities. I was not lured to basic research by visions of fame or fortune. I love my work and would not willingly trade my profession for another. Furthermore, the hours and working conditions that most of my peers and superiors put up with suggests to me that they must feel the same way. Therefore, I would argue that the critical step in maintaining an adequate supply of investigators is to recruit them early: once these people are hooked, chances are few will leave by choice. The most obvious way to interest children in science is to improve science education. Recruiting youngsters, and especially women and minorities, into science must begin at an early age: no one will elect to take first-year physics in college unless they already have a reason to believe they might like it. Frankly, I was terminally bored in most of my elementary and high school science classes--I pursued a career in research only because both of my parents are scientists. From them, I learned that basic research bore little resemblance to my school experiences. I frequently felt that my elementary school teachers themselves disliked