Women Rock Science: A Pocket Guide for Success in Clinical Academic Research Careers

By Megan A. Moreno and Rachel Katzenellenbogen

There has never been a better time to for a handbook focused on women in science. In May 2016, the American Association for the Advancement of Science posted an article titled “We need to do more for women in science.” This book describes the importance of carving out spaces for women in science and includes the unique strengths of women scientists as well as challenges they tend to face. Studies of women leadership consistently illustrate that women demonstrate strengths in leadership across communities and have skills in bringing together groups towards a common goal. The role of women in context is an important one in science, but has not been the focus of previous texts about careers in science or medicine.

 

This first of its kind book develops an understanding of research careers occurring within a greater community of colleagues and academicians as well as the fact that women themselves lead within a group, a community, and a context. The book focuseson women who are pursuing research careers in academic medicine with specific emphasis on women in science and research as well as lessons learned from fellow female scientists. It also provides key strategies and skills centered on the social ecological model as well as a sense of community with other women scientists. The book is organized thematically using the social ecological model as a framework in which we all live and complete our work.

 

Women Rock Science is a valuable resource that can be used in a variety of settings. It is beneficial for University classes as well as lab group meetings. It also places an emphasis on community and can be shared with one’s community of mentors, mentees and colleagues. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Springer
• Release date: Mar 25, 2019
• ISBN: 9783030104986

Megan A. Moreno

Dr. Moreno is the Principal Investigator of the Social Media and Adolescent Health Research Team (SMAHRT). The mission of SMAHRT is to advance society’s understanding of the relationships between media and adolescents towards educating adolescents, providing better care, and developing innovations in adolescent health.

Book preview

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019

Megan A. Moreno and Rachel KatzenellenbogenWomen Rock Sciencehttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-10498-6_1

The Framework for This Book: The Socioecological Model

Megan A. Moreno¹  and Rachel Katzenellenbogen²

(1)

Professor of Pediatrics, Vice Chair for Digital Health, Academic Division Chief: General Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA

(2)

Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Microbiology and Immunology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Riley Hospital for Children, Indianapolis, IN, USA

Keywords

Socioecological modelMentorshipLeadershipAcademic researchTeachingClinical/serviceResearch

Chapter Objectives

1.

Understand the basics of the socioecological model

2.

Determine how the socioecological model represents you, your close colleagues/mentors, your institution, and your larger scientific field

3.

Consider how the socioecological model applies to your focused area of research within a larger field of science

4.

Learn two additional frameworks of mentorship and leadership and how they apply to your socioecological model

5.

Apply these concepts to understand the flow of topics and content in this book

In this chapter we will introduce the main framework for this book: the socioecological model and how it is useful to think about and plan your career.

If you are a junior scientist, you have probably experienced a lot of focus on you as an individual. You are asked to define your individual interests, skills, and strengths . You develop a personal research mission and individual mission statement. Your accomplishments are assessed at an individual level, and much of your work writing proposals or manuscripts likely feels pretty solo. If you are a mid-level or more senior scientist, you may have experienced these processes as well as the opportunity to self-reflect or redefine yourself and your research interests. Regardless of your stage of career, you can’t rock your science alone. Really. And why would you want to? Science, like many other grand adventures, is best pursued with others at your side. Hermione worked alongside Harry and Ron. Katniss partnered with Peeta and Haymitch. Ramona had Beezus. Meg had Jo, Beth, and Amy.

As you consider your own grand career adventure, we would like to invite you to reflect on your context or the people, resources, and structures that surround you as an individual. Your context may include the mentors who provide feedback on your proposals, the colleagues who you meet for coffee, and the role models you strive to emulate within your institution. Your context may include your Institutional Review Board chair who gives you helpful feedback, the administrative assistant who exactingly double-checks your manuscripts, and your clinic scheduler who always wants to add on an extra patient for you to see. Your context presents both opportunities and challenges to you every day. Without your context, little would get done in your day-to-day. However, context is more than that, as it represents your unique position within a larger society of faculty at your institution and scientists within your field.

Further, reflect for a moment on the long game of your career, which will include your successes and failures , your development as a scientist, and your pathway through a research career. In this chapter we hope it will become clear that understanding and integrating your context into your work and life are essential to long-term productivity, growth, and happiness. We will use the socioecological model to guide the approach to considering your research context and use this approach to guide the framework by which we present information to you within this book.

For this chapter, we will first define and explore the socioecological model and the ways in which this framework can be integrated into your career path, your career, and your area of research. We will then review two additional key frameworks to keep in mind as you navigate this book: mentorship and leadership. We will discuss how they can be integrated into your overall context.

The Socioecological Model

The socioecological model (SEM) is a theory-based framework for understanding the interactive effects of personal and environmental factors that determine behaviors. A typical socioecological model is drawn as a series of concentric circles, with the individual at the center, followed by levels including interpersonal, community, organizational, and policy/enabling environment.

The SEM has been used in a variety of ways for project design as well as research . It has been applied to explain violence in a community, to improve healthy eating in schools, and to design a colorectal cancer screening program. The telescoping framework of the SEM is useful in thinking from small to large, from individual to society, and from local to global.

To be a successful and satisfied scientist, making connections and using resources across these contexts are critical. Figure 1 shows the application of the SEM to this book and how we will approach the information within this book, linking you to and across your contexts.

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Figure 1

The socio-ecological model for academic scientists. You are at the center of this model, with your mentors, colleagues, teams, academic environment, and professional society all surrounding you as your environment and context

The individual will be the focus of chapter "You as a Scientist." The level closest to the individual is typically the interpersonal context , which for an academic clinician researcher should include close colleagues and mentors. This interpersonal context level also includes your immediate research group, which are your research staff, interns, and students who work for you. In this book we will refer to this group as your research team. This interpersonal context may include those who are important to you in your personal life as well, such as your family and friends. Those individuals who you consider in this level of the SEM are your strongest and closest sources of support, people with whom you can be yourself, share your frustrations or failures, and celebrate your successes. Maintenance of these relationships is critical at every stage of your career, and we will focus on your research team, colleagues, and mentors in chapter "Your Team:​ Mentors, Staff, Colleagues, and