Stan loved being a Hughes investigator—he thought of his HHMI colleagues as an extended family—just as he derived so much satisfaction every day working with his postdocs and helping them become independent scientists. He was the consummate mentor.

Science needs more researchers who share Stan’s convictions about helping to shape scientific careers in light of the daunting barriers that young scientists face. Many linger in an extended postdoctoral limbo. On average, they have to wait until their early 40s before they receive their first independent funding from the National Institutes of Health. In 1980, 50 percent of all new grants went to scientists aged 40 or younger; by 2003, it was 17 percent. Yet by that age, Stan Korsmeyer was well established as an independent scientist and had made some of his most groundbreaking discoveries. There’s no telling what path Stan might have followed today.

To its credit, the National Institutes of Health is asking the right questions. A year ago, NIH Director Elias Zerhouni asked the National Academies to examine the circumstances of early-career scientists, the impediments to independence, and the consequences for our nation. I chaired the study panel, which was aptly named “Bridges to Independence”. I hope our recommendations will be put into effect. They include placing limits on the length of funding for postdoctoral researchers coupled with clear expectations for how principal investigators on NIH grants will prepare postdocs for independent careers. We recommend more independent awards for postdocs, including foreign scholars, and career transition grants to bridge from postdoctoral to independent research. And we suggest policies to ensure that new investigators have a fair chance to compete for R01 grants, which are the mainstay of biomedical research.

The nation needs to nurture and support scientists who are ready to move beyond “safe” research that follows well-established paths, scientists who have the requisite independence to make discoveries with a new level of impact on medicine and human health. At HHMI, we provide this freedom to a relatively small number of promising scientists through focused competitions like the one we just completed. Individual scientists, like Stan Korsmeyer, must do their part. But it is the NIH policies that have the most sweeping impact, and it is there that action is most urgently needed.

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