Is there a viable teaching career pathway?

A Winter Webinar summary report, by Maria Ciarleglio, PhD, Yale School of Public Health.

The ASA Section on Teaching of Statistics in the Health Sciences (TSHS) Winter 2023 webinar was a panel session discussing “Teaching in the Health Sciences: Is there a viable teaching career pathway?” This webinar was an encore presentation of the 2022 JSM panel session organized by Dr. Ann Brearley of the University of Minnesota and chaired by Dr. Amy Nowacki of the Cleveland Clinic.

Thoughtfully moderated by Dr. Amy Nowacki, the webinar panelists included Dr. Amanda Ellis of the University of Kentucky, Dr. Steve Foti of the University of Florida, Dr. Steve Grambow of Duke University, Dr. James Odei of the Ohio State University, and Dr. Matt Zawistowski of the University of Michigan.

Dr. Nowacki began by summarizing some of the different titles given to faculty in teaching-focused positions, including “Teaching Professor”, “Professor of Practice”, and “Clinical Professor”, and similarly described some of the different institutional perspectives on these positions ranging from full support to strong opposition of teaching-focused faculty positions. Next, each panelist described their institution, the label given to teaching-focused faculty, the number of teaching-focused biostatistician positions, the responsibilities of their teaching-focused position, and a breakdown of how their position is funded. Panelists also described their institution’s appointment and promotion criteria for teaching-focused positions at their institutions and how these criteria differ from tenure-track faculty.

We learned how some panelists are engaged in teaching research and writing teaching-related publications to increase awareness of novel teaching methods and curriculum design for those teaching statistics in the health sciences. Although some positions held by our panelists do not specifically require teaching research, many feel that this work naturally aligns with their goals as an educator and benefits the broader teaching community. Dr. Nowacki shared how being a member of TSHS gave her the opportunity to connect and collaborate with other educators on creative scholarly teaching research. If you are not currently a TSHS member, please consider joining.

The panelists discussed the value that teaching-focused positions bring to biostatistics departments and schools of public health. Benefits include high quality instruction, which increases enrollment (and tuition), the simplification of teaching assignments, the opportunity to mentor other faculty on teaching, and cohesive oversight of teaching in the department. Teaching-focused faculty can also serve as mentors to junior clinical faculty and provide education and training to this group outside of a formal classroom environment.

Obstacles to the acceptance of teaching faculty were discussed and included issues with perceived value, the need for respect for these positions, teaching burnout, limits on leadership opportunities, and lack of promotion guidelines and expectations. Finally, our panelists ended the session by providing advice for both individuals currently in or considering teaching-focused positions and for departmental leadership thinking about how to structure such positions. If you are interested in a teaching career in the health sciences, I encourage you to watch the recording of this informative panel session. We welcome your comments or questions below.