New Nature Publication: Optimizing the utility of the individual development plan

There has been extensive interest by academic institutions, particularly those entrusted with the training of graduate students and post-doctoral fellows, in the career planning tool called the Individual Development Plan (IDP). Since 2014, the NIH has required annual progress reports to include a description of whether the institution makes use of the IDP or not. Our article published in the June 2018 edition of Nature Biotechnology asks, “How useful is the IDP?” There is little data on how the IDP actually affects trainees in terms of identifying their goals and career objectives. While many institutions require graduate students to submit an IDP on a regular basis, it is unclear how this activity impacts communication with mentors. We emphasize the importance of obtaining more data on how institutions, individual trainees, and individual faculty members utilize the IDP. Ultimately, we believe that the IDP can be a useful tool for exploring both academic and non-academic careers but only if used appropriately.

Author Info

Jessica W Tsai
Department of Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Department of Pediatrics, Boston Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
The STEM Advocacy Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Nathan L. Vanderford
Department of Toxicology and Cancer Biology, University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington, Kentucky, USA.
Markey Cancer Center, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA.
Center for Cancer and Metabolism, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA.

Fanuel Muindi
Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
The STEM Advocacy Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.