Q&A with All Panelists
This resource has been adapted from the webinar Transitioning from the Bench to a Career in Science Policy, which took place June 15, 2021. Watch the full recording on Neuronline.
Q: Hi Nicole, I’m an incoming Neuroscience PhD student at GW in the fall. I’m highly interested in getting involved in science policy however I can and would love any tips or thoughts on getting involved in the DC metro area. Thank you.
A (Nicole Catanzarite): The first thing that I would recommend is to join the DC chapter of SfN. I would also recommend applying for SfN’s Early Career Policy Ambassador Program.
Q: What kind of starting salary range can people anticipate in your various kinds of sectors and positions?
A (Vijeth Iyengar): I think there’s always hesitation when talking about salary. It's an important thing to talk about. In the US Federal Government, there is something called a General Schedule (GS) and it's a combination of your years of work experience, your expertise, and at what level you're coming in. If one was to come into federal government with a PhD, you're likely to have a higher GS level, which is accompanied by a higher salary, than if you come in with a master’s or a bachelor's. The GS levels and associated salary for a particular position are publicly available, but it's a unique combination of years of experience, expertise, and your fit with the job. I would encourage you to enter in some of the job titles mentioned earlier to get an idea of the ballpark for particular positions. For instance, at my agency at the US Department Health and Human Services, there's an Aging Service Program Specialist. That's one position series and position title you can enter into a USA Jobs search and get a get a picture as to what the range of salaries would be depending on the GS level. Other think tanks and non-governmental organizations might have different ranges, but the GS is incumbent on years of experience and how you fit into the job. That’s a diplomatic way of answering that question, but hopefully it gives you enough resources to be able to get a range in mind. Thanks.
A (Amy Hein): I can add a thought, too. I agree with all of those pieces and I would say that even in the contracting and consulting world, the GS is a good place to start. We often look at the schedules and scales. If you have a PhD and a few years of experience, maybe we're talking about GS 12. That might help give you some sort of ballparks. Keep in mind that if you're making a career transition to a field in which you don't have much experience and you're trying to leverage those transferable skills, it might be a lateral transfer. You might even be willing to take a lower salary to get your foot in the door, so don't be afraid to do that. Salary is, of course, an important piece, but one of the things I’ve learned over the years is that it is often not the most important. Get to know the culture of the place you're going to go work for. If it doesn't match what you're looking for, think about how that position sets you up on a longer career path or trajectory and whether that is the trajectory you want to be on. For example, think about whether flexibility is important to you. Do that internal searching for what's important to you and look at the full picture of the position to see if it aligns with the other pieces as well.
A (Kimberly Maxfield): I wanted to add that salary negotiation still applies to the government and the GS scale. Negotiation is almost more important because the GS is set up with pre-determined intervals. The slope of advancement is almost always the same, so where you start is going to determine your y-intercept. Where you start is important in the government. There are opportunities for promotions, but as everybody probably has heard, HR in the government is notoriously horrible. That is correct; I can confirm that. I would encourage everyone to negotiate for that reason.
Q (for Kimberly Maxfield): Do you read research or participate in the experiments to come up with the ideal dosages? Are you participating in any of bench research or digging into the articles, or is your position not involved in that kind of stuff anymore?
A (Kimberly Maxfield): I’m not at the bench at all. Pharmaceutical companies will come in during their development. This is a part of the Food and Drug Association (FDA) that I think is not discussed a lot externally because it's all proprietary, so the details cannot be discussed. That said, the most impact the FDA has is during the drug development when the sponsors (pharmaceutical companies) come in asking how to set up their program at various stages--phase one, phase two, phase three, pre-clinical, or non-clinical. They want to know what the best dose is from a clinical pharmacology perspective. We have the most impact at the end of phase two, which is, basically, where the company is trying to figure out what population the drug is going to work in. That's when they're trying different regimens, different dosing levels, etc. The sponsors submit a meeting package to us, and we will have an open, honest, and scientifically-based discussion about what we think the best path forward is with the best risk benefit profile. I’m not at the bench at all, it's all reading submissions from companies and literature and talking to stakeholders. FDA does fund its own research. Often, the portfolio is nowhere near as big as the National Institutes of Health (NIH), but when there are regulatory questions that need to be answered, the FDA does conduct research. An example of FDA-funded research might be whether an auto injector for subcutaneous delivery can be used equally well in the shoulder or the thigh and whether different sites change the exposure for the patient. I work with the group in my office who does the benchmark to do that research, but I do not do it.
Q: Do any of you have advice for:
1. Transitioning from an academic research position?
2. Staying in an academic research position and getting involved in science policy, especially in a case where your institution or employer doesn’t want you to take time away from your research and other institutional duties?
3. Transitioning mid-career?
A (Amy Hein): I can answer be part of that with the front knowledge that I was not an academic tenure track professor, but I have hired many into different kinds of roles. I think it depends a little bit on what you are looking for in science policy. If you think about it broadly, there's many kinds of roles. You've heard about a number today already. We talked about some of the different fellowships and getting involved in different professional societies. I think part of it is figuring out how to talk about the roles you’ve already held and the skills that you already have as a tenure track professor. You may be serving on different committees. When you're in a committee, you may already be involved with stakeholder engagement, coordination, and other pieces. You're also mentoring or doing classes. Communication skills are part of teaching and other duties that you have as part of your role already. You may even have opportunities within the job duties of your current title to lead up a work group, like a journal club group. All those things are additional and not part of the bench part of the scientific world, but these experiences allow you to talk about other skills like strategic planning. There may be something going on in your institution or your division that you can talk about related to planning. It's a matter of keeping your eye out for that type of opportunity and figuring out how to talk about those transferable skills and experiences. You have to think of how to write it on your resume and talk about it in the interview.
A (Vijeth Iyengar): I would also say writing is important, even mid-career. You want to be identified as a thought leader in a particular science policy issue space. I think a lot of this goes back to the question that was directed to Kim. You might be used to the bench or to driving your own research program. Then you transition from the bench to government work, in my case, but you still have that itch to be involved in bench work or to get more intimately involved in the science. To scratch that itch I tried to write as much as possible (pending clearance, review, and approval processes) for my agency on issues of importance in the aging, long-term care, or even neuroscience-informed public policy debate. If you're mid-career, you already have all that expertise. In that case, I think it's a matter of getting your name out there, not just from the academic side, but also in science policy on a particular policy debate. You can take one side or the other and articulate why a policy area is of importance. Oftentimes, if it's in the right venue, a lot of folks like policymakers on the Hill and folks in government will read those articles and will reach out to you. Then you’ll be able to have a relationship from that article and from that thought leadership you put into a public space. That’s one answer to that question. I will continue to write. Now there's all sorts of venues--Nature, Nature Aging--in the aging space where they have a policy perspectives section or a type of article focused on policy. Even Neuron has a policy perspective and neuro views. If your writing gets enough traction within government, then you can build some sort of relationship there. I’ll close very quickly. The National Science Foundation (NSF), Defense Advanced Research Projects (DARPA), and other agencies have folks that are faculty at research institutions serve as service program officers or managers for an extended period. Perhaps they take a sabbatical from their university. That's another way to get in the system, so to speak, and get your name out there.
A (Adriana Bankston): If you're early career, again, putting up a blog for volunteering with nonprofits and societies is a good idea because it can really help you build connections and the skills that you need and demonstrate that you can generate deliverables. Maybe your advisor wants you to be in the lab all the time, and you're dealing with that. I do think that there are ways to get involved on the weekend, or you might be able to involve your advisor in some of the things you’d like to do. That's something that I did. I organized an event on my research and my advisor attended. I was able to get professional development out of that and my adviser was also happy with the event. On the other side of things, and this comes up a lot, are the mid- to late-career options. I will say that I think, as you’ve probably seen, a lot of these fellowships are for people in the early part of their career and applications are limited to a certain number of years post PhD. The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), I believe, is more open, but there are other ways to transition. I think that if you get enough experience and make the right connections, there are ways to transition without needing a fellowship.
Q (for Amy Hein): Could you speak a bit about the difference between policy consulting and management consulting?
A (Amy Hein): I think that question is interesting. I'm not 100% sure what they mean. I think of policy very broadly, so I think policy consulting and management consulting are overlapping Venn diagrams. There are parts that are different, but I think a lot of what we do and what we call science policy involves management consulting aspects. I also think the management consulting side of things relates to the science policy pieces. I think they're very related and the difference rests on whether you're pulling in that scientific expertise, understanding, and influence into the consulting that you're doing.
Q: Is anyone able to speak to some opportunities in types of science policy positions outside of the DC metro area? I’m thinking about things like state government or different think tanks that might be across the country.
A (Amy Hein): One thing I can add is that, especially after COVID, there's a lot more push to remote work. That’s definitely possible in the consulting world, but even in some other federal spaces there are at least discussions about remote work. I’m in the middle of the process of moving to Huntsville, Alabama. I'm going to continue working at Ripple Effect and just be fully remote. We’ve been remote for the last 16 months or so now anyway, and we've hired many folks across the country. I think private industry and the government contracting and consulting world are looking to hire nationwide because there are real talent shortages, especially if you have a particular expertise, so that might be one possibility that you'd have. Adriana, you might know more about different policy-related opportunities across the country through academic institutions. There are some think tanks. I used to follow Rand and they have some office space in California, so depending on where you are there definitely are possibilities. It's just a matter of finding that network and learning the things that exist there.
A (Adriana Bankston): There are some state fellowships. There’s not a lot of them, but I can see this becoming a trend where different states are developing more of them. I think it's a different type of impact, but state-level work may be able to make a larger impact sometimes. Some of the things that exist in DC exist elsewhere as well. As you mentioned, there are think tanks and universities. Depending on the kind of policy that you want to do, there's probably some sort of setting for policy. There may not be government agencies and societies, I think both of those are in DC, but other sorts of settings that you can look at in your state.
A (Vijeth Iyengar): I can also say that the US Government has many regional offices across the country so that's another opportunity.
Feel free to reach out to the panelists via Linkedin, Twitter, or Instagram. If you do, please mention this webinar and a short description of what you are interested in. Thanks for reading!
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