Current Career and Employment of Respondents
The first area of the survey pertained to the current career of the respondents. Primarily we were interested in whether or not the postdoctoral scholars are still conducting breast cancer research. Twenty-six of the 39 respondents or 67% are currently conducting breast cancer research. An additional three respondents are either teaching in some way related to breast cancer or working in another capacity in the breast cancer field (e.g. advocacy). Of those still working in the breast cancer field, over 60% are spending between 50-100% of their work time focussing on breast cancer (see figure 4). Over one quarter of these respondents felt that without the CBCRP fellowship, they would not still be in breast cancer research.
When surveying those who are not currently doing any type of breast cancer research, we found that all of them are still involved in research or science related activities. Four are doing another type of cancer research while the remaining six are either teaching, involved in another type of scientific research, or in business development for a biotech firm. Respondents gave various reasons for leaving breast cancer research including job opportunities, reaching a dead end in their research, and wanting to commit more time to their family.
