The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on underrepresented early-career PhD and physician scientists

Abstract

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Surveying the experience of postdocs in the United States before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…This resulted in a cascade of events, including loss of research progress, delayed career advancement and a significant disruption of work and life activities. Although there have been multiple reports of the pandemic’s impact on the STEM workforce, few have discussed the impact on postdocs specifically ( Woolston, 2020a ; Woolston, 2020b ; Gao et al, 2021 ; Doyle et al, 2021 ; Korbel and Stegle, 2020 ; Carr et al, 2021 ; Aubry et al, 2021 ; Seitz et al, 2020 ; Deryugina et al, 2021 ; Nature, 2020 ).…”

“…Our results have been implicated in other studies, including a Nature survey early in the pandemic, that found postdocs all over the world were impacted by loss of productivity, uncertain job prospects, lab closures, travel bans and experienced mental health issues ( Woolston, 2020a ; Woolston, 2020b ). In more recent reports, mental health and career impacts due to the pandemic have been experienced by all members of the university, across a multitude of fields ( Doyle et al, 2021 ; Gao et al, 2021 ; Korbel and Stegle, 2020 ; Servick et al, 2020 ; Yan, 2020 ). Unfortunately, there has been a greater impact on underrepresented minorities and female academics, especially those with young children ( Staniscuaski et al, 2021 ; Deryugina et al, 2021 ).…”

“…The impact of the pandemic on postdocs is not unlike the severe and far-reaching effects observed throughout the biomedical workforce, such as significant job losses, educational disparities, and elevated mental health issues ( Levine et al, 2021 ; Jagsi et al, 2021 ; Gao et al, 2021 ; Doyle et al, 2021 ; Korbel and Stegle, 2020 ; Carr et al, 2021 ; Yan, 2020 ; Servick et al, 2020 ; Andrade et al, 2022 ; Myers et al, 2020 ). Although the financial impact of COVID-19 on scientific productivity has not yet been fully realized, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) estimates a $16 billion loss because of delayed research, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the largest decline in college and university employment since the 1950s ( Baumann, 2021 ; Bauman, 2021 ; Bauman, 2020 ).…”

Continued impact of COVID-19 pandemic on clinical and translational science early-career researchers

“…The COVID-19 pandemic impacted early-career biomedical researchers. [1][2][3][4] It is important to understand the extent to which the impact has persisted. We have leveraged a cluster-randomized trial that we launched at the onset of the pandemic, the Customized Career Development States in 2020, we recognized an opportunity to include questions specifically related to the impact of the pandemic that could provide insight into the immediate and longer-term effects by comparing the two timepoints.…”

Differences in self-perception of productivity and mental health among the STEMM-field scientists during the COVID-19 pandemic by sex and status as a parent: A survey in six languages

“…Our assessment of depression, anxiety, and stress used published, validated measures, but cannot capture the full spectrum of mental health and wellbeing. While we examined differences in impacts and perceptions by several factors, there are many other subpopulations that are likely to be disproportionately affected, such as racial/ethnic minority and other underrepresented scientists such as those from low-income backgrounds [52][53][54][55], scholars who are providing elder care, and those who experienced COVID-19 or had family members or close friends experienced COVID-19. Lastly, we recognize that the distinction between sex and gender is critically important and that there are multiple genders [40][41][42]56], we were challenged by how to address this issue in a context where study participants were from a range of cultures [37][38][39][56][57][58]across 132 countries and six languages where these concepts differ considerably.…”