During the wine and cheese reception for the 2015 HIV Prevention Trials Network Scholars (HPTN) Program, my colleagues and I were engaged in a conversation about surviving (and thriving) in academia. We were all members of underrepresented racial/ethnic minority groups and Postdocs or early career faculty. The topic of salary came up. When I shared how I just started my new position and doubled my salary from a year prior, jaws dropped. There were lots of questions. We all felt ill prepared to negotiate the next step of our academic careers. We had taken no classes on topic, and learning just through personal experience could be painful and expensive.

Since that reception, I had been meaning to find time to sit down and develop a document highlighting my experience navigating academia. Now finally, years later, I gathered my thoughts. What better place to share this than in Science magazine! The editors definitely shaped and improved the writing, but it was so enjoyable, and I hope my experiences can help others. We all have our own stories from the academy, and the more we share them, the more we realize our common struggles. As I now frequently lecture on the topic of academic negotiation (and share my own mistakes), there are a few pieces of advice I hope people to keep in mind:

• salary is negotiable, and it is not the only part of an academic contract that you can negotiate
• if it’s not in writing, it doesn’t exist
• offer letters provide you with your market worth in academia
• if not careful, service can take you out

Brandon Brown, PhD, MPH
University of California, Riverside, School of Medicine
UCLA CHIME RCMAR Scientist

Click here to learn more: https://www.sciencemag.org/careers/2019/06/yes-you-can-and-should-negotiate-academic-job-offers

Additional resources on how best to negotiate can be found here:
https://www.pon.harvard.edu/publications/
http://www.womendontask.com/
https://diverseeducation.com/article/76541/