2 Woman Physician-Scientist -Interview Guide

Form Approved

OMB Number 0925-0648

Expiration Date 1/31/2015

Key Informant Interview Guide

Female Physician-Scientist

We’re exploring how female physician-scientists like you think about their career decisions, and we’d like to ask you some questions about your experiences and the decisions you’ve made in your career. The aggregate findings will be used to inform the deliberations of the Physician Scientist Workforce Committee at the National Institutes of Health about how to improve and support a sustainable and diverse physician-scientist workforce.

There are no right or wrong answers to these questions. Every person’s experiences and opinions are important, and we want to hear about yours. What is said in this conversation will remain private to the extent allowed by law. That is, no one person’s contributions will be identified to the Committee. Instead, the Committee will be provided with aggregated information to help them in their deliberations.

This interview will take about 30 minutes.

We would like to tape record our conversation, to capture everything you have to say. You will not be identified by name in the report so all comments will be anonymous. The tape recordings and transcripts will be stored in a locked file cabinet until June 30, 2014, and then they will be destroyed. Is it okay with you if we record this call?

Do you have any questions before we get started?

1. In broad terms, describe your career path from the time you completed your degree to the present? (PROBE: Current occupation/position and time post-degree to get to that position; position when first competed for, and subsequently obtained, an R01; approximate time in career wherein the R01 was obtained; impact of research training/experience on current occupation)

2. What is your current family situation: single, married or in a committed relationship, parent (how many children and their ages)?

3. When you conduct research (or did in the past), do (did) you consider yourself a clinical researcher or a lab science researcher? Why do you self-select into this category (clinical or lab science) of research?

Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 30 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to: NIH, Project Clearance Branch, 6705 Rockledge Drive, MSC 7974, Bethesda, MD 20892-7974, ATTN: PRA (0925-0648). Do not return the completed form to this address.

Past Influences

4. What were the most important factors that made you originally think about pursuing a career in research? (PROBE FOR: Exposure to research – family member/friend in research, Mentor, Internship/summer fellowship program, college major; college vs. university setting)

5. Approximately when in your academic career did you make the decision that research might be a good career choice for you? (PROBE FOR: approximate time if they tie the decision to an event.)

6. Have you ever had a mentor/role model in research? If so, who? How did you find your mentor?

Current Considerations

1. Just as you were making the decision to build a research career, what do you remember as appealing to you most about it?

2. Now that you have a career, what appeals to you most about it?

3. ? What are the current challenges you face in your career? (PROBE FOR: uncertainty of funding, balancing the demands of strong science and other professional demands; salary; work/family balance)

4. In 20XX, you received an R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health. You successfully completed the research, but you didn’t submit a renewal or follow-up application. What factors influenced that decision?

5. Have you applied for, and received, other funding? (PROBE: From NIH? Other sources [which ones?] When?)

Future

6. Where do you see yourself in 10 years? 20 years?

7. What kinds of things would you suggest to the Physician-Scientist Workforce Committee that would help revitalize the physician-scientist workforce, especially for women physician-scientists?

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