Becoming an Academic Researcher in Psychiatry: A View From the Trenches.

Successful academic research careers must withstand the pressures of inevitable challenges. Some challenges are inherent to the nature of the work; for example, the identification of “researchable” problems requires innovative thinking; the completion of projects requires tenacity and detail-orientation; and the development of a productive research program requires management skills and consistent funding [1, 2]. However, factors beyond these also impact the potential for success in academia. These include maintaining motivation through challenging times and failures, acquiring excellent mentors, and achieving work-life balance. The four authors participated in the Career Development Institute (CDI) for Psychiatry in 2012–2014. (See Kupfer et al. [3, 4] for more information on the CDI). Briefly, this 2-year longitudinal program aims to enhance the careers of junior researchers in academic psychiatry (typically junior faculty members, or those making the transition from training to faculty status) through training related to both the direct and indirect aspects of an academic career. Initially, participants attend a 4-day seminar series with one-on-one and group mentoring sessions, followed by 2 years of distancementoring and online “webinars,” which cover various topics of relevance to junior investigators [3, 4]. Our experience in the CDI led us to reflect upon the major challenges to successful careers in psychiatric research, thus inspiring this perspective piece on issues currently facing junior investigators. We have personally found that the most substantial challenges in developing an academic research career arise from indirect aspects of this career choice: maintaining motivation, acquiring mentors, and managing work-life balance. We aim to provide other junior investigators with the knowledge that these types of challenges are expected. We also hope that more opportunities (such as the CDI) that involve open discussion of these challenges within academic psychiatry may lead to changes related to these obstacles.