Grants help level the playing field for young moms in science

By Randi Belisomo (Reuters Health) - Thanks to a generous benefactor, young mothers doing laboratory research at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston can receive major grants to keep them from falling behind while they raise their children. Since 1993, the Claflin Distinguished Scholar Awards at MGH have helped junior female faculty with young children keep pace with their male peers, who don’t face the same challenges to research productivity that women do during their child-rearing years. Every year, five women are awarded $100,000 Claflin grants - named for benefactor Jane D. Claflin - to fund a research assistant for two years. The women are expected to leverage the funds for larger grants to accelerate their advancement. Women entering science and medicine don’t advance as quickly as their male colleagues. Earlier this month, a 28-member panel published a seven-point plan in the journal Cell Stem Cell for achieving gender equity in so-called STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and math); the plan calls for expansion of “extra-hands awards” like the Claflin. (See Reuters Health story of March 16, here: http://reut.rs/1Ft5MiQ.) Close to three-quarters of Claflin winners have remained at MGH, including infectious disease specialist Elizabeth Hohmann, who was among the first winners. “It allowed me to get on my feet to keep things rolling while . . . feeding babies,” she said. “It’s so easy to say ‘oh screw it’ and just give up.” For endocrinologist Elaine Yu, a 2014 winner, the award makes time with her sons, ages 2 and 5, less stressful. “Raising kids is not easy, and this is one of the most stressful times in a research career because you are trying to establish yourself,” Yu said. The University of Massachusetts Medical School also funds two to four researchers yearly, male or female, with $30,000 during a “finite period of increased family care responsibilities.” Now in its fifth year, the Faculty Scholar Award committee receives three times as many applicants as it can fund. “We wish we had double or triple the amount of money,” said Luanne Thorndyke, the university’s vice provost for faculty affairs. University of Massachusetts neurologist Susanne Muehlschlengel won a grant in 2011 when she was expecting her second child. Without the grant, she would have shut down her research during maternity leave. But even with it, she recognized that her pace of progress still could not match that of peers when she prioritized family and patient care obligations first. “Having kids certainly slowed down my career,” Muehlschlengel said. “When I look at male colleagues I did my fellowship with, even those one or two years behind me, they are two years ahead of me.” Because the Faculty Scholar Award recognizes caregiving responsibilities beyond those involving children, biochemist Sean Ryder received funding in 2013 when his father was hospitalized with leukemia for five months before he died. Ryder was also juggling responsibilities to his wife and two sons at home, near Worcester. His father received treatment in New Hampshire, where Ryder spent two days a week. “I would have spent time with him regardless,” Ryder said. “But research in my lab would have slipped.” The Working Group’s paper also cited a German foundation providing “extra hands” in the form of childcare, but American awardees say the approach is misguided. “You don’t want to replace time with your kids, you want to replace time doing non-essential work,” said Catherine Chu, a Claflin-winning neurologist. Sharon Dekel, a psychologist and mother of three, said her Claflin Award brought the intangible benefit of increased recognition from her colleagues. “The Claflin is how people can really perceive you,” Dekel said. While president of the American Association of Immunologists, Laurie Glimcher launched a similar award program at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease. “Reproductive years coincide with the critical years in your career,” Glimcher said, noting that among too many young mothers, laboratory science suffers. Now the dean of Weill Cornell Medical College, Glimcher recently announced ten new $50,000 grants for female faculty with young children, to be awarded this spring. “I think it’s money very well spent,” Glimcher said. “We can’t afford to lose 50 percent of the population” – that is, women – “in science.”