Building a Research Career

Christy L. Ludlow, PhD, is Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders and Director of the Laboratory of Neural Bases of Communication and Swallowing at James Madison University in Virginia. Dr. Ludlow first served as program staff in Extramural Research administering grants and contracts at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, before she moved into the Intramural Research Program of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. There she became a Senior Investigator responsible for conducting both basic and clinical research and training many postdoctoral fellows in research. Dr. Ludlow has received Honors of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, the American Laryngological Association, and the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. In the last five years, Dr. Ludlow has conducted clinical trials in collaboration with industry, was responsible for Investigational Device Exemption trials under the FDA as both a Principal Investigator and Sponsor, and has filed patents for neurorehabilitation. Raymond Kent, Ph.D. is Professor of Communicative Disorders at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His current primary research interests include: neurogenic speech disorders in children and adults, speech development in infants and young children, procedures to assess speech intelligibility and quality, acoustic analyses of speech, and theories of speech production.

Liam M Flood FRCS, The Journal of Laryngology and Otology, (2011): "The title immediately suggests a relevance to only a minority of our speciality, but any trainee would do well to read this book. I was initially concerned that this book might not be applicable to a research career outside the US, but far from it. I was equally daunted to read in an opening sentence that this career is "post doctoral" and that entry level is here defined as the PhD, a stage that few of us in clinical practice attain! I am glad I stuck with it however, as there is a very good generic message, even for those of us who never contribute much more than the odd case report, the dodgy RCT, or the less than systematic review. The book starts by outlining the stages of progress through a research career, from that new PhD to the retired professor emeritus. The second chapter, on designing research, is an excellent review of methodology, in only 24 pages. It is surely all too familiar to a scientist at this stage, but it provides a nice coverage more suited to a "jobbing" surgeon or trainee. The next, brief, chapter concentrates on on-line methods of keeping up to date with the evolving literature and shows how far we have come from just reading the journals...if we choose to. A chapter on getting one's work published is particularly good on justifying authorship, ethics and Impact Factor...There is an excellent chapter on "Achieving Success in Academia", which deals with such issues as work-life balance, women in biomedical research and the value of sabbaticals and study leave. The target audience has clearly been the clinician considering a future in whole time research. The message carried is of equal value to anyone who intends to maintain any academic profile on completion of clinical training and I would highly recommend this book." Rachael M Harrington, George Washington University, Doody's Review Service, (February 2011): "The sections on grant writing and grant processing are particularly well written and informative, and several chapters include appendixes that present practical summaries and additional resources. The authors also provide online resources. This is an interesting, easy to read book that would be useful for any student or young professional interested in pursuing a research career in the allied health fields."

• Career Stages in Research and Characteristics of a Successful Scientist Types of Research Finding Issues and Topics for a Research Program Writing and Publishing Scientific Papers Membership in the Scientific Community Good Research Practices Writing Research Proposals and Getting Funded Career Paths Outside Academia or Away from the Bench Long Range Research Career Strategies Achieving Success in Academia Technology Transfer References