Transitioning to Independence Posted on May 2, 2006 David A. Axelson (bio) talks about the challenges of moving from early to mid-career.

Well, as far as making that transition or progression of funding from junior researcher to more sort of mid-level faculty is quite a challenge. And especially it can be difficult because a lot of work, at least treatment studies, you need to have a lot of subjects, and that usually means multi-center work, which means you’re sort of a part of a group, which has some positives because, you know, it’s exciting working with other people. In some ways, it can be easier to obtain funding doing – being one site as a part of a large study. The downside is you have less chance to make your own name or be your own individual PI. And so, you’re constantly torn between those two different things. I’m very fortunate to work at a center, at University of Pittsburgh, where there a lot of people doing research in mood disorders and bipolar disorder, so you can also be a collaborator with people in their projects. And I’ve done a fair amount of that in making this transition. I’m fortunate right now. I’m fully funded, but it’s constant – you’re in constant threat. It’s the next grant ending is when you’ve lost that fully funded status. And so you constantly have to be thinking about writing the next grant and going from there.

So I’m actually at the stage where I need to start thinking about writing my next R01 grant and doing that’s a big commitment because you’re sort of deciding, “All right, what do I want to focus on the next five years?” And it can be a little daunting doing that. But I think balancing that independent portfolio with collaborations is really kind of key in making that transition, and collaborations within your own institution, if you’re fortunate enough to have other people doing complementary work or collaborations with folks from other institutions.

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