By Susan Peterson

Gazette Staff

Elaine Hylek's day begins like many other parents' -- by getting her two young children up and ready for school. But the similarity might end there. Hylek then goes to work as an instructor in medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, and also as a researcher specializing in atrial fibrillation, a condition that causes a high risk of stroke in older people. For Hylek, each day is an effort to balance the demands set before her.

So Hylek was thrilled when she was awarded a $25,000 stipend through the "50th Anniversary Program for Scholars in Medicine" at the Medical School.

"This award enables me to shift my time -- freeing me up to do research, go to the library -- and to think up the next question that needs to be asked," Hylek explained. "Junior faculty are overtaxed with clinical responsibilities. We also have this innate desire to teach, but your time becomes whittled away."

Eleanor Shore, dean for faculty affairs at the Medical School, understands trying to balance demanding career obligations with personal responsibilities. She sees young faculty members every day juggling their clinical time, research projects, and teaching -- let alone trying to raise a family. She's been there herself.

In the 1960s, Shore received a Macy Fellowship through the Radcliffe Institute. It was awarded to enable young women doctors to finish their specialty training, and Shore hasn't forgotten its significance. It gave her the idea that a similar fellowship program would be an appropriate way to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the admission of women to Harvard Medical School and acknowledge their contributions.

This summer, the first 10 recipients of the "50th Anniversary Program for Scholars in Medicine" were awarded $25,000 stipends to further their research. A total of 50 fellowships will be awarded through 2001, and 40 have already been funded by sponsors.

A Means of Support

By the time junior faculty are finishing their medical school and training programs -- often lasting as long as 10 years -- they are at a critical juncture in their lives. They must teach, do research, publish, or practice (if a clinical faculty member), while at the same time compete for the grants that make their research possible.

But without the financial backing that gives researchers the freedom to pursue their questions in the lab, many important discoveries would be slowed -- at considerable sacrifice to the public who can benefit from research.

"This funding is a source of support that we hope will help keep these young faculty on the academic ladder while these difficult years are passing," Shore said.

Added Hylek, "You can't balance yourself without independent funding, and I really think the mark of success in research is the credibility and confidence of senior faculty who believe in your ideas and questions."

Evan Abel understands that feeling. An instructor in medicine at Beth Israel Hospital, Abel explained that the fellowship allows him the time to complete two current research projects because he can hire another worker to help him in his lab. His research interest is in endocrinology and thyroid-hormone action.

"This fellowship will form the basis of more research grants with the NIH," he said.

Leticia Castillo sees the fellowship as an opportunity to decrease her clinical time in order to focus on her clinical research. Castillo has been at Harvard since 1984, when she began as an intern in pediatrics. She is currently associate director of the Intensive Care Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital and at M.I.T. in the Laboratory of Human Nutrition.

"It's difficult to do it all and do it well," Castillo said. "This fellowship allows you to distribute your time better."

Academic Opportunity

The fellowship program is also an effort to help high-potential junior faculty achieve their potential and to increase the diversity of the faculty at the full professor level. Through the years, more women have become medical students and instructors, but the numbers are still low for women at the assistant, associate, and full professor levels.

"Harvard Medical School and its affiliated hospitals stand to gain each time a talented young person elects to pursue a career in academic medicine in the face of the formidable challenges to success," said Daniel Tosteson, Dean of the Medical School. "For many young faculty members, those professional challenges are multiplied by the family and other personal responsibilities they assume outside of their professional lives. I am personally delighted that Harvard Medical School has developed a program and the resources to address the problem."

Hylek, for one, appreciates the opportunity for the time to focus on her career.

"I thank all of the individuals at the Medical School who so keenly observed a need," Hylek said, "and appreciated the difficulty of getting an academic career started."