Rice University student Kara Calhoun, left, and Kirstin Matthews, fellow in Science and Technology, talk with author Chris Mooney at a Baker Institute event on scientific illiteracy.
Since I was six years old, I have known that I wanted to be a doctor — just like my dad. I had dreams of performing complex surgeries, delivering babies and saving lives, practicing with everyday objects like a ballpoint pen and my favorite dolls. Although some of those dreams still exist, I have come to learn through my studies that I have another passion — research. However, the sad reality is that I might have to wait 20 years or more just to get a chance for this to become a reality.
As a future lead scientist — or what’s known as a principal investigator — I am very concerned about the increasing age of scientists receiving grants and performing research. Data from the National Institutes of Health (the U.S. biomedical research funding agency) shows that I could be age 40 before I get my first grant. What if my ideas could change medicine or public policy? This potential delay is not only discouraging to me, but also to other young minds considering science research as a career; many of my peers are choosing other fields instead. I plan to wait it out, but many of my friends have said they will not. They have abandoned their goals of research to instead go into business or consulting, jobs that guarantee independence and foster free thinking upon completion of a degree.
Some of the fastest growing science fields are those where young scientists are able to immediately join the workforce and contribute. Computer science and engineering are growing at an exponential pace due to the desire for new, fresh ideas coming from young scientists. This mentality should be applied to biomedical research — specifically, interdisciplinary research, which approaches questions from multiple perspectives, rather than a single view or discipline.
Most of today’s most pressing issues, such as health care, involve not only science but also societal and social factors. The issue I have chosen to study is how best to improve poor health outcomes that are disproportionately experienced by minority and underserved populations. This question cannot be simply answered by science, or just by social factors. A more holistic, interdisciplinary approach must be taken to understand and reverse the issue.
Through classes and internships I have learned that research can be quite tedious at times, but in the end very rewarding. In the future I see myself fulfilling the roles of both a researcher and a physician. I desire to make an impact on the lives of patients both inside and outside the clinic. In order to achieve my goals I will need support from funding agencies such as the NIH. Without it, my ideas could go to waste and not come to fruition.
Leaders at the NIH and other government grant-making agencies must find ways to fund new investigators if young people are to remain interested in science careers and cutting-edge research. Otherwise, the scientific community will suffer greatly without a steady flow of young minds willing to take a chance.
Kara Calhoun is an undergraduate intern for the Baker Institute Science and Technology Policy Program working under the supervision of Kirstin Matthews. Calhoun is a junior at Rice University majoring in biology and health care policy and plans to attend medical school after graduation.