News from the Director

In this issue, we focus on the trials and tribulations of the young scientist struggling to get started in his or her chosen profession.

Imagine it: After high school, four years of undergraduate education and three to eight years of graduate school leading to a Ph.D. in a scientific field, followed by another two to three years of postdoctoral training, you are now 34 years old, with your first job as an assistant professor at a prestigious medical center. You spend months writing your first grant application to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), but you face only a 10-percent chance that it will be selected for funding.

What businessperson, after 12 years of post-high-school education, would open a business or take a job with a 10-percent chance of success? Not many, I suspect.

However, this is the dilemma that our young scientists face when NIH funding is flat or falling. It is critical in these lean times that our institution has enough resources to support our young scientists until they are able to generate their own independent funding. 

Philanthropic and state support are our only sources of funds that will allow us to help promising young scientists until they are able to generate their own success stories. By failing to support them, we run the risk of losing these bright young stars to private industry and other occupations.

Also in this issue, we take an intriguing look behind the scenes of a clinical trial to gain insight into the complexities of conducting the study and ensuring that the welfare of the patient comes first.            

We hope that you will enjoy this issue of Crossroads and continue to support the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center.  

Edward Partridge, M.D.
Director and Evalina B. Spencer Chair in Oncology