October 30, 1991 Dear Dr. Healy: We write regarding an important aspect of NIH'S policy concerning the training of scientists who are young women. We feel that one aspect of this policy is incomplete and can inhibit women from pursuing careers as scientists. Currently, anyone who is awarded an NIH postdoctoral fellowship must serve full-time, for one, two or three consecutive years, as the case may be. Aside from maternity leave (which, presumably, would cover the period involving the birth of a child) there is no allowance made for part-time service (and consequent extensions of the time of the award). Accordingly, a woman for wham full-time day care is not an option and who wishes to work part-time while rearing an infant, cannot do so while holding an NIH post-doctoral fellowship. This policy is unnecessarily restrictive and works against our national goal of training more young women as scientists. Furthermore, it stands in contrast to the corresponding policies at many of our home institutions to such an extent that a woman being paid as a post-doctoral associate in our laboratories can work part-time, but a woman in the same laboratory who is a holder of an NIH post-doctoral fellowship, cannot. It is also our general experience that women who work part-time under the circumstances described above often achieve almost as much as men or women who work full-time: they are simply better organized and more highly motivated. We urge you to institute a re-examination of the policy addressed above. A relaxation of the current guidelines to allow women to work two-thirds or three-quarters time while child-rearing (perhaps to be considered as a kind of maternity leave under a broadened definition) would benefit the whole nation. Sincerely, Maxine Singer , Director, Carnegie Institution Sidney Altman, Sterling Professor of Biology The following individuals are signatories - in absentia. Notes of assent are available for inspection. Dr. David Baltimore Office of the President Rockefeller University 1230 York Ave. New York, NY 10021 Dr. Alice Huang Dean of Faculty of Arts and Sciences New York University 6 Washington Square, N. New York, NY, 10003 Professor Daniel Koshland, jr. Editor, Science Department of Molecular and Cell Biology Barker Hall University of California Berkeley, CA 94720 Professor Dan Nathans Dept. of Molecular Biology and Genetics Johns Hopkins School of Medicine 724 N. Wolfe St. Baltimore, MD 21205 Dr. Donna Shalala Office of the President University of Wisconsin Madison, WI 53706 Dr. Robert F. Goldberger Dept. of Biochemistry College of Physicians and Surgeons Columbia University New York, NY 10032 Dr. Jeremy Knowles Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Harvard University Cambridge, MA 02138 Dr. Phil Leder, Chairman Department of Genetics Harvard Medical School 25 Shattuck St. Boston, MA 02115 Mr. Benno C. Schmidt, jr. Office of the President Yale University Box 1302A Yale Station New Haven, CT 06520 Dr. Phil Sharp, Chairman Department of Biology Massachusetts Institute of Technology 77 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02139