Radiation and Nuclear Countermeasures Program (RNCP), National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Rockville, Maryland, 20852.
Office of Research Training and Special Programs (ORTSP), National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Rockville, Maryland, 20852.
Radiat Res. 2024 Apr 1;201(4):330-337. doi: 10.1667/RADE-23-00207.1.
Developing and maintaining a robust and diverse scientific workforce is crucial to advance knowledge, drive innovation, and tackle societal issues that impact the economy and human health. The shortage of trained professionals in radiation and nuclear sciences derives from many factors, such as scarcity of specialized coursework, programming, professional development, and experiential learning at educational institutions, which significantly disrupt the training pipeline. Other challenges include small numbers of faculty and educators with specialized radiation/nuclear expertise that are continually overextended professionally and scientifically, with the burden of training falling on this subset of individuals. Even more alarming is the recent loss of radiobiologists due to increased retirements and deaths, leaving the radiobiology community with a void of mentors and knowledge. Lastly, inconsistency in acquiring stable grant funding to recruit and retain scientists is a major hurdle to training the next generation of radiation and nuclear scientists. Recommendations from the scientific community and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine describe the need to bolster educational resources and provide more hands-on training experiences. Of equal importance was the suggestion that funding agencies provide more opportunities for training and tracking the radiation workforce. The Radiation and Nuclear Countermeasures Program (RNCP), and the Office of Research Training and Special Programs (ORTSP), both within the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) are committed to helping to develop and sustain the radiation research workforce. This commentary illustrates the importance of addressing radiation workforce development and outlines steps that the RNCP is taking to help mitigate the issue. In addition, the role for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) in helping to increase the number of students trained in the radiation sciences is discussed, and the NIH's DEIA priorities and RNCP efforts to improve DEIA in the research community are highlighted. One of the main goals of this commentary is to provide awareness of available educational (i.e., development of a radiation biologist eBook) and funding resources. A summary of available awards targeting early- to mid-stage investigators and diversity candidates is given, and it is hoped that this list, although not exhaustive and not specific for all focus areas in radiation (e.g., cancer research), will encourage more radiation biologists to explore and apply to these under-utilized opportunities.
发展和维护一支强大且多样化的科学劳动力队伍对于推进知识、推动创新以及解决影响经济和人类健康的社会问题至关重要。辐射和核科学领域专业人才的短缺源于许多因素，例如教育机构中专门课程、编程、专业发展和实践学习的稀缺，这严重扰乱了培训渠道。其他挑战包括具有专门辐射/核专业知识的教师和教育者人数较少，他们在专业和科学方面一直过度扩展，培训负担落在这一小部分人身上。更令人担忧的是，最近由于退休和死亡，放射生物学家的数量有所减少，使放射生物学界失去了导师和知识。最后，获得稳定的拨款来招募和留住科学家以培训下一代辐射和核科学家的能力不一致，这是一个主要障碍。科学界和美国国家科学院、工程院和医学院的建议描述了加强教育资源和提供更多实践培训经验的必要性。同样重要的是，建议资助机构为培训和跟踪辐射劳动力提供更多机会。辐射和核对策计划（RNCP）和研究培训和特别计划办公室（ORTSP）都在国家过敏和传染病研究所（NIAID）内，致力于帮助发展和维持辐射研究劳动力。本评论说明了解决辐射劳动力发展问题的重要性，并概述了 RNCP 为帮助缓解该问题而采取的步骤。此外，还讨论了多样性、公平、包容和可及性（DEIA）在帮助增加辐射科学领域培训学生人数方面的作用，以及 NIH 的 DEIA 优先事项和 RNCP 为改善研究界的 DEIA 所做的努力。本评论的主要目标之一是提高对可用教育资源（即开发辐射生物学家电子书）和资金资源的认识。提供了针对早期到中期研究人员和多样性候选人的可用奖项的摘要，希望这份清单虽然不详尽，也不适用于辐射的所有重点领域（例如癌症研究），但能鼓励更多的辐射生物学家探索并申请这些未充分利用的机会。
