Networking is actually really important. It's a very important component to anything you do, whether it's bench science, whether it's practical science, anything that you do requires a network, especially now, NIH is trying to push for us to be more team-oriented. So in order to do that, you have to know how to build a network.

A lot of the research questions that we're even trying to push young investigators towards are types of questions that you just can't do on an individual basis. It's the type of question where it requires a multi-disciplinary team. And we've done that on purpose, sort of understanding that in order to get at the best science; we don't really just want to approach it from one discipline. That just because a clinical psychologist sees it this way doesn't mean that a biologist may not see something different, even if it's the same disorder. So nowadays, the whole idea of being a silo and being in your own laboratory just doesn't work anymore.

I think, unfortunately, the way that the academic setting is set up right now; a lot of the performance-based appraisals are really individual. For example, if you're looking at tenure, it's based on the number of publications you have or the number of presentations you do, not the fact that you're a part of this team or part of that team.

So unfortunately, it does make it difficult when you're trying to look to be more team-focused, but the way that your performance is rewarded is on an individual basis. So things are changing and NIMH is trying to change some of that as well. I think it will take a little bit of time, but I do think that individuals are trying to understand it now.