The Scientist names Gladstone as one of the three best places to work in American academia

By John Watson

The Scientist magazine announced today the winners of its annual “best places to work in academia survey,” naming The J. David Gladstone Institutes as one of the nation’s top three academic work environments.

This is the second time this year that Gladstone has been honored by The Scientist, which last February named the San Francisco-based biomedical research institution as one of the top 15 U.S. work environments for postdoctoral scholars.

“It is truly an honor to be ranked so highly within the same year in The Scientist’s two annual surveys spotlighting the academic community,” said Gladstone Institutes President Robert W. Mahley, MD, PhD, a professor of medicine and pathology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).

“As we’ve researched causes of cardiovascular disease, AIDS and neurological disorders over the last 26 years, we’ve placed the highest priority on creating a supportive workplace. It’s exciting and deeply gratifying to be recognized in this way for those efforts.”

Also topping the U.S. list in the newly reported survey is Clemson University, located in Clemson, South Carolina, in first place, and the Trudeau Institute in Saranac Lake, New York, in second. The independent, not-for-profit Gladstone Institutes is affiliated with UCSF, which, at #13, is also included in the survey’s list of the top 15 best places to work.

The more than 2,600 academics who responded to this year’s survey rated relationships with their peers, a sense of accomplishment in their work, and access to research resources as the ingredients that make for a great workplace.

More than 40,000 survey invitations were e-mailed to readers of The Scientist and registrants on the magazine’s web site who identified themselves as tenured or tenure-track life scientists working at non-commercial research institutions.  Respondents were asked to assess their working conditions and environments by indicating their level of agreement with 41 criteria in eight different areas. The magazine received 2,603 valid responses representing 135 individual institutions. Overall, The Scientist evaluated 91 U.S. institutions.

The J. David Gladstone Institutes is dedicated to the health and welfare of humankind through research into the causes and prevention of cardiovascular disease, HIV and AIDS, and Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. UCSF is a leading university that consistently defines health care worldwide by conducting advanced biomedical research, educating graduate students in the life sciences, and providing complex patient care.

For further information, visit www.gladstone.ucsf.edu and www.ucsf.edu .

The top 15 US institutions are:

1. Clemson University, Clemson, SC
2. Trudeau Institute, Saranac Lake, NY
3. J. David Gladstone Institutes, San Francisco, CA
4. University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
5. Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
6. University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, WI
7. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, TN
8. Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC
9. Wadsworth Center, Albany, NY
10. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
11. University of Delaware, Newark, DE
12. Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI
13. University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
14. Buck Institute for Age Research, Novato, CA
15. Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN