Data from: Postdoctoral T32 training is correlated with obtaining an academic primarily research faculty position
Data files
Nov 08, 2025 version files 237.77 KB
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Barriers_Rank.csv
4.47 KB
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CV_T32_Program_Data.csv
3.78 KB
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CVI_T32_Survey_Data.csv
1.34 KB
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Enablers_Rank.csv
2.43 KB
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OPA_Data.csv
222.15 KB
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README.md
3.60 KB
Abstract
Background: The main mission of NIH-sponsored institutional training programs such as the T32 is to provide strong research and career training for early career scientists, while preparing those individuals to become leaders working to meet the health-related research needs of the nation. One of the main avenues to pursue health-related research is becoming research faculty at an academic institution. It is therefore important to know whether these programs are succeeding in this mission, or, if barriers exist that prevent trainees from pursuing these careers.
Methods: Our institution currently trains ~ 2400 post-doctoral scholars per year, approximately 5% of whom are enrolled in one of our 33 T32 programs. In this study, we 1) compare the professional outcomes of T32 trainees with non-T32 trainees at our institution, and 2) survey past and current T32 trainees in a subset of high-performing cardiovascular programs about the barriers and enablers they experienced to pursuing research-oriented careers.
Results: Former T32 trainees are significantly more likely to attain appointments as primarily research faculty members, compared to other trainees. Trainees report a perceived lack of stability, the paucity of open positions, and the ‘publish or perish’ competitive mentality of academia as their top reasons for abandoning careers in academia. However, they were still more likely to choose research over clinical careers after participating in a dedicated T32 program.
Conclusions: Our results support the conclusion that structured training programs strengthen the pipeline of young scientists pursuing careers in academic research, including those from underrepresented backgrounds. However, T32 postdoctoral researchers are held back from pursuing academic careers by a perceived lack of stability and high competition for faculty positions.
Funding: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.70rxwdc0t
These datasets describes five data-files associated with our publication.
Description of the data and file structure
OPA Data (OPA_Data.csv)
Each row represents information for unique former postdoctoral trainees at Stanford University. Note that this data does not represent all former postdocs, but a subset who participated in health-related research. Columns provide information about whether the traine was confirmed to have participated in a T32 program "T32 Postdocs" or had no confirmed T32 participation "Non-T32 Postdocs", gender, URM status, type of current work, faculty status, and a combined field for traines who became primarily research academic faculty.
Variables:
Postdoc_ID: De-identified postdoc ID number
T32 Status: Non-T32 Postdocs, T32 Postdocs
Gender: Male, Female, Undefined
URM Check bio: URM, Not URM
Type: Primarily Teaching, Science/Discipline-Related, Primarily Research, Not Related To Science/Discipline, Further Training Or Education, None
Faculty: Non-Faculty, Faculty
Primarily Research Academic Faculty: All Other Positions, Primarily Research Faculty
CV T32 Program Data (CV_T32_Program_Data.csv)
Each row represents information for a unique T32 trainee in a cardiovascular T32 program at Stanford University. Columns provide information about the trainee gender, higher degree, and "Current Outcome" as of Spring, 2020. Respondent identifier number is NOT the same as the identifier numbers in the CV T32 Survey dataset.
Variables:
Stanford ID #:
Gender: Male, Female, or Undefined
Degree: MD, PhD, or MD/PHD
Current Outcome (group): Faculty, Industry / Non-Academic Research, Academic Non-Faculty, Clinical Practice & Teaching
CV T32 Survey Data (CVI_T32_Survey_Data.csv)
Gender for each survey respondent. Respondent identifier number is NOT the same as identifier numbers in Enablers Ranke or Barriers Rank datasets.
Variables:
ID: Survey response ID
Gender: Male, Female, Undefined
Enablers Rank (Enablers_Rank.csv)
Each row represents a survey response. Each column represents the rank that that survey repsondent assigned to that Enabler. No value indicates no ranking was assigned. Respondent identifier number is NOT the same as identifier number in CV T32 Survey dataset, but IS the same as the identifier number in the Barriers Rank dataset.
Variables:
ID: Survey response ID
All other variables are the barriers to careers in academia described in the survey. The number listed is the rank of the barrier.
Barriers Rank (Barriers_Rank.csv)
Each row represents a survey response. Each column represents the rank that that survey repsondent assigned to that Barrier. No value indicates no ranking was assigned. Respondent identifier number is NOT the same as identifier number in CV T32 Survey dataset, but IS the same as the identifier number in the Enablers Rank dataset.
Variables:
ID: Survey response ID
All other variables are the barriers to careers in academia described in the survey. The number listed is the rank of the barrier.
Code/Software
We also provide the RMarkdown file for the code we used to create the figures associated with our publication on Zenodo.
Human subjects data
Our human subject data is de-identified and does not include any personally identifiable information.
- Mueller, Adrienne (2025). Data from: Postdoctoral T32 training is correlated with obtaining an academic primarily research faculty position. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10311629
- Mueller, Adrienne (2025). Data from: Postdoctoral T32 training is correlated with obtaining an academic primarily research faculty position. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10311628
- Mueller, Adrienne L.; Schnirel, Addie; Kleppner, Sofie et al. (2024). Postdoctoral T32 training is correlated with obtaining an academic primarily research faculty position. PLOS ONE. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0303792