The business of research: budgets, personnel, planning, and pitfalls--a report from the American Society of Preventive Oncology's Junior Members Interest Group.

The Junior Members Interest Group of the American Society of Preventive Oncology (ASPO) was initiated in 1999 to engage and integrate predoctoral, postdoctoral, and junior faculty members into the society and prepare them for careers in cancer prevention and control research (1). Members of the Junior Member Interest Group sit on the ASPO Executive Committee and the Program Planning Committee. Junior members also organize professional development sessions at each ASPO annual meeting. In response to member demand, the 2011 ASPO meeting featured a Junior Members Career Panel Session, entitled "The Business of Research: Budgets, Personnel, Planning, and Pitfalls." Most beginning investigators have very little preparation in project management skills, which are requisites for success once grant funding is secured. Substantial challenges include managing personnel, developing and implementing a budget, and dealing with unforeseen delays in research. These skills are often not learned while in graduate school. Although justice to this topic cannot be done in a single 1 hour and 45 minute session, to address major questions and give important insight into these topics, the Junior Members Interest Group invited 4 experienced investigators to share their advice. The panel included Patricia Ganz (Professor of Health Services, UCLA), Peter Kanetsky (Associate Professor of Epidemiology, University of Pennsylvania), Lawrence Kushi (Associate Director for Etiology and Prevention Research, Kaiser Permanente), and Linda Nebeling (Chief of the Health Promotion Research Branch, National Cancer Institute). This report summarizes the key discussion points that were raised during the session, for dissemination to all junior cancer prevention and control researchers.