Impact of CBCRP Fellowship Award on Career
The next area of the study addressed the impact of the CBCRP fellowship award on the postdoctoral scholar's career. We were interested in:
- whether or not scholars used the award to switch into breast cancer research from another field;
- whether or not the award gave them the opportunity to do research in breast cancer that they would not have otherwise been able to do;
- whether or not the award helped them to stay in breast cancer research and if so, how did it help them to stay; and
- what career gains, if any, they received from their CBCRP funded postdoctoral training.
When asked whether or not they used the CBCRP award to switch into breast cancer research from another field, 44% (17 of 39) of the respondents said yes. The remaining 56% (22 of 39) were already doing research related to breast cancer when they applied for the funding. For those that were new to the field, some said that it is difficult to switch into a new field and CBCRP provided them with a much-needed opportunity to gain background in breast cancer research to continue in the field. Indeed, of the 17 who switched into the field, 71% (12) have remained, at least partially, in breast cancer research.
Opportunity
Over 70% of the respondents (27 of 39) felt that the CBCRP postdoctoral fellowship gave them the opportunity to do work relevant to breast cancer that they would not otherwise have been able to do. Although we did not specifically ask for comments related to this question, some respondents said that without the CBCRP funding, their project would have taken much longer to get funded or would not have been funded at all. Several said that the type of research they wanted to do was too risky for other funding agencies to fund an initial project.
Staying in Breast Cancer Research
Over 60% of the respondents (24 of 39) said that the CBCRP fellowship helped them to stay in breast cancer research once their fellowship award ended. When asked how the CBCRP fellowship helped them to stay in the field, almost all of the respondents or 92% (22 of 24) said that it gave them the chance to write and publish papers; 84% (20 of 24) said it provided groundwork for the rest of their career; 79% (19 of 24) said that it gave them the background and training they needed; and 71% (17) said that it helped them to continue working on an already initiated project (see figure 7). Other reasons given include: the CBCRP fellowship award made them more competitive to obtain additional funding in breast cancer; it helped steer their career towards breast cancer research; and the award gave them breast cancer specific training. Furthermore, respondents who are currently in the breast cancer field were asked if they would still be in breast cancer research had they not received their CBCRP award. While 66% said they would either probably or definitely still be in the field, 27% said that they would not have stayed in the field if they had not received the CBCRP postdoctoral award (see figure 8).
Career Gains
As a career development award, the postdoctoral fellowship is meant to provide scholars with career gains. Thus, we asked respondents about potential career gains that they received from their CBCRP funded postdoctoral training. Almost all of the respondents felt they gained significant career gains from the CBCRP funded postdoctoral fellowship. Almost half (46%) of the respondents stated that the CBCRP fellowship award helped them to gain a faculty position (or equivalent) in research. Other career gains mentioned by respondents include managerial experience, legitimacy in the breast cancer research field, and the freedom to pursue their own research interests and hypotheses. See figure 9 below for more information about career gains identified by respondents.
