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Career Paths for a Physiologist

APS Career pages
dealing with types of careers available and career planning
   Graduate students
   Postdoctoral fellows
   New investigators

Liaison With Industry Career information
What Industry Physiologist Do (Power Point Presentation)
Careers in Industry: The Drug Discovery Process (PowerPoint Presentation)

Individual Development Plan (IDP) for Postdoctoral Fellows
FASEB Office of Public Affairs

Individual Development Plans (IDPs) provide a planning process that identifies both professional development needs and career objectives. Furthermore, IDPs serve as a communication tool between individuals and their mentors. While IDPs have been incorporated into performance review processes in many organizations, they have been used much less frequently in the mentoring of postdoctoral fellows. An IDP can be considered one component of a broader mentoring program that needs to be instituted by all types of research institutions.
Goals:
Help individuals identify:
Long-term career options they wish to pursue and the necessary tools to meet these; and
Short-term needs for improving current performance.
Benefits:
Postdoctoral fellows will have a process that assists in developing long-term goals. Identifying short-term goals will give them a clearer sense of expectations and help identify milestones along the way to achieving specific objectives. The IDP also provides a tool for communication between the postdoc and a faculty mentor.

Books of Interest
General Career Planning
Academic Careers
Non-academic Careers

Books of Interest - General Career Planning

Put Your Science to Work: The Take-Charge Career Guide for Scientists
Peter S. Fiske, Ph.D.
Washington, D.C.: American Geophysical Union 2001
Roughly the equivalent of What Color is Your Parachute? for scientists. This is also a very practical guide on career planning starting with the process of self-assessment. The chapters on CVs and resumes are thorough and helpful.

Books of Interest: Academic Careers

The Academic Job Search Handbook
Mary Morris Heiberger and Julia Miller Vick
Philadelphia, PA: University Of Pennsylvania Press 2001
This is a comprehensive resource which starts with information on the structure of academic careers, the hiring process, and planning your job search.   It deals extensively with vitae including a discerning gem of advice to tailor your vita to each position for which you apply.  There are also chapters on interviewing, accepting/rejecting job offers, and additional guidance for special situations such as dual career couples, foreign nationals, etc.

Academic Scientists at Work
Jeremy M. Boss and Susan H. Eckert
New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers 2003
This book provides advice on landing a position in academic research and how to get organized once you've started.  Little of the information is novel.  The most valuable part of the book may be the Job Comparison Worksheets found in the appendices.  These provide a great starting point to stimulate your thoughts about issues that should be the basis of comparison of different positions.

At the Helm: A Laboratory Navigator
Kathy Barker
Cold Spring Harbor, NY: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press 2002
Running a laboratory requires the use of skills which are not often emphasized in graduate or postdoctoral training.  Time management, hiring and retaining lab personnel, development of lab policies, communication, and group dynamics are among the issues confronting new principal investigators.  Although "perfect" solutions to these issues are not identified, the approaches used in a variety of laboratories are described.

How to Succeed in Academics
Linda L. McCabe and Edward R.B. McCabe
San Diego: Academic Press 2000
Blueprint for how to build an academic career.  Tips are provided on successfully accomplishing common academic functions such as writing abstracts, papers, grant applications and making effective oral and poster presentations.

Making the Right Moves: A Practical Guide to Scientific Management for Postdocs and New Faculty (free)
Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Burroughs Wellcome Fund
Based on presentations and discussions from a course developed by HHMI and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, this book is a collection of practical advice, experiences, and opinions from seasoned biomedical investigators and other professionals. Also contains an overview of the course and lessons learned.

Tomorrow's Professor Preparing for Academic Careers in Science and Engineering
Richard M. Reis
New York: Wiley Interscience 1997
This is a well-written book on how to prepare, compete, and succeed in an academic career. It provides some perspective with an overview of the modern academic enterprise. The author walks systematically through the stages of a scientific career including preparation, applying for positions, first years on the job, and achieving tenure.

Books of Interest - Non-Academic Careers

Alternative Careers in Science: Leaving the Ivory Tower
Cynthia Robbins-Roth
San Diego: Academic Press 1993
This is a multi-authored text, providing a perspective on 22 nonacademic career tracks. Although the term alternative careers is a misnomer, the descriptions of these career possibilities along with the attendant qualifications and expectations is very useful.

Guide to Nontraditional Careers in Science
Karen Young Kreeger
Philadelphia: Taylor and Francis 1999
This book was written for the purpose of stimulating graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to consider careers outside of academia.

Careers with the Pharmaceutical Industry
Peter D. Stonier
West Sussex, England: Wiley and Sons, 2003
Although this book has a decidedly British perspective, this book is worth perusing to examine the breadth of positions available in the pharmaceutical industry.

If you know of other resources that should be listed here, please contact us.