Chapter 6 - Teams and Diversity

Summary

Stories of great medical discoveries are littered with examples of individual brilliance. This paradigm, however, in which individual brilliance is the cornerstone of great breakthroughs, is probably outdated. Of late, evidence suggests that modern research excellence often stems from collaboration and teamwork. This chapter is concerned with how team size, gender composition, and the geographical backgrounds of team members influence the types of research projects that are pursued. It also discusses how we can create a more diverse workforce and combat demographic biases in funding. Finally, the end of the chapter is concerned with how diversifying the scientific workforce can improve the rate of discovery and steer the direction of discovery towards more socially-relevant areas of research.