title: It's a wonderful life: a career as an academic scientist.
abstract: Many years of training are required to obtain a job as an academic scientist. Is this investment of time and effort worthwhile? My answer is a resounding "yes." Academic scientists enjoy tremendous freedom in choosing their research and career path, experience unusual camaraderie in their lab, school, and international community, and can contribute to and enjoy being part of this historical era of biological discovery. In this essay, I further elaborate by listing my top ten reasons why an academic job is a desirable career for young people who are interested in the life sciences.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA. vale@cmp.ucsf.edu
authors.forename: Ronald D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Vale
mesh_terms: D002321:Career Choice; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D012108:Research Personnel; D012586:Science; D014495:Universities