ASAP Care & Career Program: Addressing the Cost of Family Care and Supporting the Next Generation of Scientists

Many of us in the workforce will likely agree that being able to adequately care for those who depend on us, financially or otherwise, including children and elders, is of the utmost importance. However, balancing the rising costs of care with an ever-demanding work environment can be a struggle. 

The August 2024 release of the US Surgeon General’s Health Advisory builds on what seems to be a growing consensus that raising and caring for children, for all its inherent difficulties, not only isn’t getting any easier but is also taking a toll on the mental health and well-being of parents. The advisory points to a constantly growing laundry list of stressors, such as financial strain and concerns about having enough time and resources to prepare children for an ever-evolving economy, that are leading to unprecedented levels of anxiety, depression, and loneliness amongst parents and caregivers. To address these challenges and their resultant impact on parental health, the Surgeon General calls upon policymakers and employers to think innovatively and deploy new laws, programs, and policies designed to enable those raising young children to thrive, not only as caregivers but as professionals and active adults.

The Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s (ASAP) initiative is committed to accelerating the pace of discovery in Parkinson’s disease (PD) research, a goal dependent upon growing and sustaining a robust pipeline of researchers. In a 2022 survey of ASAP’s Collaborative Research Network (CRN):

• 67% of respondents indicated that their institution does not offer family-friendly support.
• Around 62% of the postdocs and early career investigators highlighted that finances around childcare limited their ability to work in a research lab.

In recognition of this reality, ASAP launched the Care & Career Program in 2023, a one-of-a-kind program that is designed to help offset growing costs and pressures related to family care among researchers engaged in ASAP’s CRN. The Care & Career Program allows eligible recipients – primarily graduate students, postdocs, and early career researchers – the opportunity to request a stipend of up to $10,000, which can be applied to healthcare, education, daycare, extracurricular, or any other general living expenses related to caring for and raising children younger than 18 years old. First piloted in 2023-2024, ASAP disbursed almost 100 stipends to eligible researchers within the CRN. Now in its second year, the Care & Career Program has expanded to help cover costs related to elder care and is currently on track to release nearly 160 stipends, representing almost a 60% increase in the number of participants from the pilot program. Within the first two years, the CRN has built a unique family care program that has committed almost $2.5 million in stipends.

Beyond helping to address the growing financial impact of family care, ASAP sees the Care & Career Program as a critical investment in a vital element of the CRN’s mission to establish a diverse and committed scientific workforce. At ASAP, we believe that our capacity to better understand PD and open a path to a cure is limited only by ideas that come from the talent and perspectives of the researchers who belong to our network and who will compose the next generation of scientists engaged in PD research. This kind of investment is especially needed at a time when the academic community, particularly in the STEM fields, is facing a shortage of postdocs and trainees. Due to several factors – insufficient salaries in the midst of rising costs, limited opportunities for tenured faculty positions, the general precarity of assistant or adjunct faculty roles, among others – the scientific workforce is abandoning academia to pursue higher-paid positions within the private sector. The Care & Career Program is a way for us to support the retention of promising students and early career researchers by providing resources to offset the costs and complexities of both elder and childcare.

The Care & Career Program is by no means a magic bullet for the issues plaguing the job market within academic scientific research, but ASAP hopes that it, and programs like it, may be part of the solution. Nearly 100% of 2023-2024 Care & Career Program participants indicated that the support they received through the program helped offset the financial burden related to childcare. This enabled many to commit more time to their research and professional development without sacrificing childcare obligations in the process. Many also reported feeling more secure in their career trajectory within academia. 

“This program alone kept me in academia this past year. It arrived at a pivotal time, right as I was considering leaving my postdoc and my dream of becoming an independent investigator for a better paying job. Receiving these funds was just enough of an offset to the financial burden of childcare costs to allow me to continue on this career path that I’ve invested so much time and hard work into.”

– CRN Postdoc | Care & Career Recipient 

“Making as little as I do as a postdoc, it was hard to justify even working because my salary did not cover childcare for the year. With this program, I felt empowered to keep working and felt that I was contributing to my family’s financial success.”

– CRN Postdoc | Care & Career Recipient

The stipends provided through the Care & Career Program had a positive impact on the recipient’s well-being. In a post-program survey, 78% reported that the program had a significant positive impact on their quality of life, with 54% saying that they believe the support will have a long-term impact. Many participants specifically called out experiencing reduced anxiety and higher self-esteem, which consequently helped empower them to more actively contribute to their research. 

For instance, after struggling to find a balance between work and childcare after returning from parental leave, one participant reported that the program “alleviated much of the stress associated with childcare costs, allowing me to focus more on both my family and my own capacity of taking care of myself. This unexpected relief significantly improved my overall mental health and allowed me to approach my return to work with greater clarity and energy.”

Based on the overwhelming positive feedback and reception of the program, we are excited to announce that the Care & Career Program is now being extended to support clinical coordinators, trainees, and other key personnel within the Parkinson’s Progression Marker’s Initiative (PPMI). The testimonies of the Care & Career Program’s beneficiaries speak to the importance of supporting the scientists who continually work to fill the knowledge gaps surrounding PD, which we hope will one day provide the breakthroughs needed to inform the path to a cure.