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<h1 class="page-heading">Why is this program being offered?</h1>
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The BEST program was initiated by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 2013, by recommendation of the Biomedical Research Workforce Working Group. This group was assembled to assess the state of the biomedical workforce and make recommendations to the NIH regarding how many people we should be training, and for what types of jobs. Their report from 2012 recognizes the breadth of careers available to PhDs in the biomedical and health sciences, which are important for advancing the NIH’s mission of ultimately improving human health (see figure below). In fact, in 2009,  approximately 75% of US-trained biomedical PhD’s were employed in categories other than tenured or tenure-track faculty positions, thus, it would be a misnomer to refer to these categories as “alternative careers”. Yet, the majority of today’s biomedical doctoral and postdoctoral training programs focus primarily on training students for academic research positions.

Currently 10 universities nationwide have received NIH BEST awards, with the  mission of broadening the training experience to expose trainees to the breadth of available careers. Virginia Tech's BEST program aims to foster an understanding of the career opportunities available to biomedical PhDs, and provide trainees with guidance and information toward preparing them for pursuit of these goals, through instruction, internships, and mentorship from a range of biomedical professionals.

[caption id="attachment_16" align="aligncenter" width="800"]<a href="http://info.vtc.vt.edu/best/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/piegraph.png"><img class="size-large wp-image-16" alt="Adapted from the NIH Biomedical Research Workforce Working Group Report, 2012" src="http://info.vtc.vt.edu/best/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/piegraph-1024x573.png" width="800" height="448" /></a> Adapted from the Biomedical Research Workforce Working Group Report, 2012[/caption]

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<h1 class="page-heading">Where can I go for additional resources?</h1>
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<a href="http://acd.od.nih.gov/biomedical_research_wgreport.pdf" target="_blank">Biomedical Workforce Working Group Report</a>

<a href="http://www.nationalpostdoc.org/" target="_blank">National Postdoctoral Association</a>

<a href="http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/" target="_blank">Science Careers</a>

<a href="http://myidp.sciencecareers.org/" target="_blank">MyIDP</a>

<a href="https://www.aamc.org/students/research/phd/career_paths/" target="_blank">Association of American Medical Colleges</a>

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VT websites:

<a href="http://www.advance.vt.edu/" target="_blank">Advance VT</a>

<a href="http://graduateschool.vt.edu/" target="_blank">The Graduate School</a>

<a href="http://graduateschool.vt.edu/graduate_catalog/certificates.htm" target="_blank">VT certificate programs</a>

<a href="http://www.tbmh.vt.edu/" target="_blank">PhD Program in Translational Biology, Medicine and Health</a>