Family Care Travel Award Available for Faculty
Ingrid Katz, MD, MHSc, knows a thing or two about balancing career and family, but sometimes, a little support can go a long way. A junior investigator at BWH, Katz is married to Alexi Wright, MD, MPH, a junior investigator at Dana-Farber, and together, they are raising a four-year old son. Both women must travel for work, attending conferences and, in Katz' case, visiting her research site in South Africa.
"We are fortunate to have these opportunities, but it often means quite a bit of extra work for the person who is not traveling," said Katz, an associate physician in the Division of Women's Health and Infectious Diseases. "Our parents do not live in the area, so that usually means paying for a babysitter for extra time so that we can both take care of our work responsibilities when the other is traveling."
That's why Katz was thrilled to learn about the Family Care Travel Support Award. It provides faculty who are traveling to professional meetings with financial support to defray the costs of traveling with dependents or providing extra care for them at home.
"Often, faculty traveling to a conference have their own travel funded, but not that of an elderly parent or a child whom they care for," said Tina Gelsomino, MSW, LCSW, administrative director in the Center for Faculty Development and Diversity's Office for Women's Careers. "This can prevent them from attending a conference that is critical to academic promotion and early career advancement."
The award, offered by the Center for Faculty Development and Diversity, provides up to $500 for staff at the assistant professor and instructor level. Since its establishment, seven recipients have used the award for airfare for a caregiver of their dependent, six have used it to pay a nanny at home, and 12 have put it toward a child's airfare.
Such an offering is especially important for those junior investigators like Katz who are in "the squeeze years," where they need to be incredibly productive in their research and are balancing that demand with their family responsibilities.
Katz applied for the award in order to make it easier for her travel to the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Seattle. "It's our biggest HIV research conference each year, and I always try to attend so I can hear about the latest research on HIV and speak with colleagues and mentors at different institutions," she said.
The travel award helped to subsidize her son's care at home while Katz attended the conference.
"To work at an institution that believes in nurturing young people to succeed in both their work and in their family lives is really what it's about," said Katz. "I occasionally bring my son into work after hours, and he loves it. Just the other day, he said to me, ‘Mama, can boys grow up to be doctors too, because I would like to be one when I grow up!' That made my day!"
The Center for Faculty Development and Diversity, with support from the BRI and BWPO, grants 30 Family Care Travel Awards per year. 25 already have been granted this year, but there is still funding left. Learn more.