Leadership Development in Early Career Scientists: Themes and Feedback from Executive Coaching and Mindful Leadership Training.

Background: Career development is essential for all academic stages, but particularly critical for the growth and retention of early career scientists. In addition to scientific technical training, professional skill development is crucial for the upward transition from postdoctoral trainee to early faculty member and beyond. Building leadership skills, specifically, is an important component of professional development, and the evaluation and reporting of professional development are important to improve and enhance the impact of programs. Methods: The purpose of this article is to share the program evaluation performed on leadership development activities, including executive coaching and mindful leadership training provided to a small group of early career scientists who participated in the National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded Mayo Clinic Specialized Center of Research Excellence (SCORE) in Sex Differences Career Enhancement Core and Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health (BIRCWH) K12 programs during 2020-2022. Results: Eighty-seven percent of participants rated their satisfaction with the executive coaching program as "Very Satisfied" or "Satisfied," and 75% of participants were "Very Satisfied" or "Satisfied" with the mindful leadership training program. The findings of this program evaluation highlight the value of communication skills for navigating precarious situations, building self-efficacy and intentionality in making and holding boundaries for an individual's time and energy. Further, the individualized small group format of the activities allowed for deeper introspection and peer to peer connection. Conclusion: The identification of common themes within the Mayo Clinic program provides guidance to other academic environments on areas where they can support their early career scientists.

No association between 25-hydroxyvitamin D and mammographic density.

There is increasing evidence that vitamin D may protect against breast cancer. Some studies have suggested that dietary and supplemental vitamin D is associated with reduced mammographic density, which is highly associated with breast cancer risk, although this evidence is not entirely consistent. We investigated a possible association between circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD), the best indicator of vitamin D status, and quantitative mammographic density in the Minnesota Breast Cancer Family Study. Mean values of mammographic density (both percent and area densities) and circulating levels of 25OHD were compared across categories of covariates using ANOVA. Models were adjusted for age and body mass index, as well as other covariates, and also stratified by dietary calcium intake, menopause, and season. Serum, mammographic density, and questionnaire data were available from 487 women [133 premenopausal and 354 postmenopausal; mean age, 56.4 years (range, 27-85 years)] without breast cancer, and for 73%, the blood was drawn within 1 year of their mammogram. No evidence was found for an association between 25OHD and either percent density or total dense area. There was also no evidence for any association when the data were stratified by season of sample (winter and summer) or menopause. However, both percent density and dense area were lowest among those in the highest vitamin D quartile with calcium intake above the median. Unlike some previous reports, vitamin D does not seem to be related to mammographic density in this cohort.

Interaction of dietary folate intake, alcohol, and risk of hormone receptor-defined breast cancer in a prospective study of postmenopausal women.

Alcohol intake is an established risk factor for breast cancer, but the underlying mechanism remains unknown. Four recent studies have described interactions of alcohol and low folate intake. We examined this interaction on the risk of postmenopausal breast cancer stratified by tumor receptor status for estrogen (ER) and progesterone (PR). The Iowa Women's Health Study is a prospective cohort study of 34,393 at-risk women. Alcohol use and folate intake from diet and supplements were estimated at baseline in 1986 through a semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire. Through 1999, 1,875 cases of breast cancer were identified through linkage to the Iowa Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results registry. Compared with nondrinkers with folate intakes above the 50(th) percentile, women with low folate and high alcohol were at 1.43-fold greater risk (1.02-2.02). When stratified by tumor receptor status for ER or PR, the risks for low folate/high alcohol were 2.1 (1.18-3.85), 1.0 (0.76-1.42), 1.2 (0.88-1.70), and 1.2 (0.69-2.02) for ER-, ER+, PR+, and PR- tumors, respectively. Because the results were limited primarily to ER- tumors, one plausible interpretation of these data is that alcohol influences breast cancer through its metabolite, acetaldehyde, rather than through effects on ER levels and receptor-mediated pathways.

High-folate diets and breast cancer survival in a prospective cohort study.

Recent evidence suggests that adequate dietary folate may attenuate the risk of breast cancer associated with intake of alcohol. However, patients with breast cancer have been commonly treated with antifolate chemotherapies. The present analysis was performed to test the hypothesis that high folate intake may diminish the effectiveness of chemotherapy and, therefore, adversely influence survival. Women at risk of postmenopausal breast cancer (n = 37,105) participated in the Iowa Women's Health Study. Total folate intake (diet + supplements) was estimated from a food frequency questionnaire administered at baseline in 1986 and categorized into tertiles. From all incident breast cancer cases ascertained in the cohort, we selected those with a diagnosis between 1986 and 1994, chemotherapy as first course of treatment, and adequate diet assessment. Mortality was determined through the State Health Registry of Iowa and the National Death Index. Cox regression was used to estimate survival while adjusting for important covariates. Through 14 yr of follow-up, 80 deaths occurred among the 177 breast cancer cases treated with chemotherapy. Among these patients, high folate intake was not associated with worse survival. After adjustment for age, extent of disease, total calories, alcohol, and estrogen receptor status, women with total folate intake in the highest tertile had a mortality risk ratio of 0.88 (95% confidence interval = 0.44-1.76) compared with cases in the lowest tertile of folate. These findings, although preliminary, afford some reassurance that folate supplementation is unlikely to have a significant adverse effect on survival after chemotherapy for breast cancer.