Citation

Cagan R. Dis. Model. Mech. 2015; 8(8): 767.

Affiliation

Ross Cagan is Editor-in-Chief of Disease Models & Mechanisms and is Senior Associate Dean of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New YorkIcahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Annenberg 25-40, Campus Box 1020, 1468 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10029, USA ross.cagan@mssm.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Company of Biologists)

DOI

10.1242/dmm.021840

PMID

26203124

Abstract

I entered the science field because I imagined that scientists were society's "professional risk takers", that they like surfing out on the edge. I understood that a lot of science - perhaps even most science - has to be a solid exploration of partly understood phenomena. But any science that confronts a difficult problem has to start with risk. Most people are at least a bit suspicious of risk, and scientists such as myself are no exception. Recently, risk-taking has been under attack financially, but this Editorial is not about that. I am writing about the long view and the messages we send to our trainees. I am Senior Associate Dean of the graduate school at Mount Sinai and have had the privilege to discuss these issues with the next generation of scientists, for whom I care very deeply. Are we preparing you to embrace risk?

Language: en