I chanced to read Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee’s profile on Simon and Schuster website this evening.
“Siddhartha Mukherjee is a cancer physician and researcher. He is the author of The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize in general nonfiction. Mukherjee is an assistant professor of medicine at Columbia University and a staff cancer physician at Columbia University Medical Center. A Rhodes scholar, he graduated from Stanford University, University of Oxford, Harvard Medical School. He has published articles in Nature, The New England Journal of Medicine, The New York Times, and Cell.”
The third sentence makes an interesting reading. He is still an assistant professor. A Rhodes scholar, a Pulitzer Prize winner, a Padmashree recipient, one of the world’s premiere cancer researchers and an author of a book that has been rated by Time magazine as “100 best non-fiction books of all time”, Mukherjee is still patiently waiting for his promotion!
Siddhartha Mukherjee should seriously think of relocating back to India. Private medical schools and the MCI in India are not as harsh— they require just seven years post-MD experience, and four “indexed” publications. Had he applied to one of the medical schools in the country, long back he would have been on the topmost rung on the academic ladder- that of a full professor. Medical teachers in India, looking forward to advancing their career, thrive on the internet-based, cyberspace-driven “international journals” that promise—and do live up to their reputation—quick publications that can embellish one’s CV, enough to impress the selection board.
Siddhartha Mukherjee should seriously ask his university, “ What more should I do to become at least an associate professor?
