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Dear friends,
We made it through the crazy month of May! I hope you are looking ahead to some downtime this summer. An early-career faculty member with young kids recently asked me a great question: how do you decide how much to travel? Is there a magic number of trips per year or nights away from home?
Clearly, there is no one right answer to this question. It depends on how much of your core work requires travel. If your key responsibilities are securing grant funding, executing on studies, publishing your work, and seeing patients, then consider how much travel disrupts your productivity for those activities. Of course, some families are more disrupted by travel than others, too. I remain envious of people who bring their kids to conferences, but mine always got sick, did poorly on airplanes, missed their routine, etc. Also, consider the destination! I am more likely to travel to places where my friends live, where I’d like to visit, and if I can get there conveniently- with direct flights and reasonable logistics.
Work travel is more than one thing! In academic medicine, invited talks are high priority, because they matter for promotion. Every talk gives you real-time feedback of knowing what aspects of your work resonate with others. And with every invited lecture comes a series of back-to-back meetings with local faculty and learners- always a great time! Invited talks have sparked mentoring relationships and interesting collaborations for me. Then there is conference travel. There are too many conferences, so this is an area to choose wisely. If you have a professional society that is really like a "professional home," going to that conference every year makes sense.
In my opinion, all other travel is optional. If you still have bandwidth for travel, after invited talks and your one or two most important conferences, the next priority for NIH-funded researchers should be in-person study section. It is a terrific learning experience, because study section gives you excellent, substantive time with leaders in your field. You do get to know people through conferences, but when you are on study section with them, you learn how they think.
I’ll share my own experience here, though I want to stress again that this is different for everyone. For many years, I made it my goal not to take more than two trips per year, and not to be away longer than two nights. It was a family decision that served me well, though I do acknowledge that I likely lost out on opportunities because I declined to travel. One colleague and professional collaborator saw me at an advisory panel and said, “Urmimala! You’re here! I told Famous Professor who convened this meeting not to invite you because you always say no.” I have to imagine others heard similar things about me. I did make an exception when, as an assistant professor, I was asked to join a committee producing a report for the National Academy of Medicine. It was a rare opportunity, and it was clear to me that my specific (ok, niche) expertise was needed. For that sort of one-off experience, it was worth it to me to ask my family to adjust.
Finally, remember that travel begets travel. Expanding your network leads to more opportunities. It never hurts to ask for flexibility, and I would advise against rigid self-imposed limits.
As always, please share widely and, if you are so inclined, sign up for the blog here. Keep in touch and do share good news so I can amplify your successes!
Warmly,
Urmimala