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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 77% of US-trained biomedical PhD’s were not employed in tenured or tenure-track faculty positions, thus, it would be a misnomer to continuing referring to the remaining categories as “alternative careers”. Unfortunately, the majority of today’s biomedical doctoral and postdoctoral training programs are still focused primarily on training for academic research positions.

[caption id="attachment_16" align="alignleft" width="1024"]<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 Biomedical Research Workforce Working Group Report, 2012" src="http://info.vtc.vt.edu/best/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/piegraph-1024x573.png" width="1024" height="573" /></a> Adapted from the Biomedical Research Workforce Working Group Report, 2012[/caption]

Currently 10 universities nationwide have received NIH BEST awards, with the  mission of exposing trainees to the breadth of careers available to them, and to provide guidance toward setting and pursuing career goals. Importantly, the program does not aim to directly train students for these different professionas, but rather exposes them to the breadth of opportunities, and provides students with guidance and information toward preparing them for pursuit of these goals, through instruction, internships, and mentorship from a range of biomedical professionals.

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<h1 class="page-heading">Where can I go for additional resources?</h1>
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Full BWWG Report

NPA

Science Careers

MyIDP

AAMC GREAT page

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VT websites:

Advance VT

VT certificate programs