Tips for charting the course of a successful health research career

Lawrence Mbuagbaw,^1–3 Frederick Morfaw,⁴ John-Eudes L Kunda,⁵ Jackson K Mukonzo,⁶ Jasmine Kastner,⁷ Shiyuan Zhang,^2,3 Madzouka Kokolo,⁸ Lehana Thabane<sup>1,3,9–11

1</sup>Centre for Development of Best Practices in Health, Yaounde Central Hospital, Yaounde, Cameroon; ²Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McMaster University, ³Biostatistics Unit, Father Sean O'Sullivan Research Centre, St Joseph's Healthcare, Hamilton, ON, Canada; ⁴Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Faculty of Medicines and Biomedical Sciences, University of Yaounde 1, Yaounde, Cameroon; ⁵Community Information and Epidemiological Technologies, Lusaka, Zambia; ⁶School of Biomedical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, University of Makerere, Kampala, Uganda; ⁷Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, BC, Canada; ⁸Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, ⁹Departments of Pediatrics and Anaesthesia, McMaster University, ¹⁰Centre for Evaluation of Medicine, St Joseph's Healthcare, ¹¹Population Health Research Institute, Hamilton Health Sciences, Hamilton, ON, Canada

Abstract: Young health researchers all over the world often encounter difficulties in the early stages of their careers. Formal acquisition of research skills in academic settings does not always offer sufficient guidance to overcome these challenges. Based on the collective experiences of some young researchers and research mentors, we describe some tips for a successful health career and offer some useful resources. These tips include: institutional affiliation, early manuscript writing, early manuscript reviewing, finding a mentor, collaboration and networking, identifying sources of funding, establishing research interests, investing in research methods training, developing interpersonal and personal skills, providing mentorship, and balancing work with everyday life. The rationale behind these tips and how to achieve them is provided.

Keywords: health research career, young researcher, guidance