Centralized Oversight of Physician–Scientist Faculty Development at Vanderbilt: Early Outcomes
| Autor: | Lee E. Limbird, Abigail M. Brown, Daniel W. Byrne, Steven G. Gabbe, Nancy J. Brown, Jeffrey R. Balser, Jason D. Morrow |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2008 |
| Předmět: |
Quality Control
Program evaluation Biomedical Research Faculty Medical Population Article Education Mentorship Physicians Research Support as Topic Humans Medicine Program Development education Academic Medical Centers education.field_of_study Medical education Career Choice Education Medical business.industry Financing Organized General Medicine Tennessee Assistant professor Research Personnel United States Research proposal National Institutes of Health (U.S.) Faculty development business Program Evaluation Graduation Career development |
| Zdroj: | Academic Medicine. 83:969-975 |
| ISSN: | 1040-2446 |
| DOI: | 10.1097/acm.0b013e3181850950 |
| Popis: | Advances in biomedical science today provide an unprecedented opportunity to improve human health. The translation of scientific and technological advances into better health requires the training of physician–scientists who are equipped with the scientific and clinical skills to make discoveries at the bench, at the bedside, and in the general population. Yet, increased personal debt after graduation from medical school, financial incentives to practice medicine, and the competing time demands of family, practice, and administrative duties all conspire to dissuade physicians from pursuing careers in academia.1–5 At the same time, decreasing clinical revenues at academic health centers and a declining rate of growth of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) budget have limited the intramural and extramural resources available to physician–scientists and have lengthened the time to receive independent funding. As of 2006, the funding rate for new R01 grants from the NIH was 16.6%, and the mean age of physician–scientists who achieve independent funding has increased to 44.2 years for MDs and 42.3 years for MD/PhDs.6 This increased age at which investigators are awarded independent funding may adversely effect the recruitment of physician–scientists to academic research careers. In 2000, faced with a declining number of physician–scientists among its junior faculty, Vanderbilt School of Medicine established the Vanderbilt Physician–Scientist Development (VPSD) program to promote the career development of physician–scientists. The VPSD is an institutionally funded program that provides up to two years of salary support to new assistant professor physician–scientists who spend 75% of their time conducting research under the direct supervision of an established Vanderbilt investigator. The program requires awardees to work within the research space and program of the mentor, ensuring a close supervisory relationship while eliminating the need for the awardees to obtain their own supplies or equipment. In addition, the candidate's department chair provides $25,000 support for supplies to the mentor and commits to provide space and start-up funds for the scholar as he or she emerges from the VPSD program. Candidates are interviewed and selected on a competitive basis by an advisory committee of Vanderbilt Medical Center faculty representing both basic science and clinical departments. One purpose of the interview is to help the candidate select an appropriate mentor, but there is not a designated pool of potential mentors. The committee selects VPSD scholars on the basis of the training credentials of the applicant, the quality of the chosen mentor and his or her research environment, and the quality of a research proposal submitted by the applicant. Interdepartmental mentoring relationships are encouraged. VPSD scholars are required to submit an application for external individual career development funding within the first year of the program. A key feature of the VPSD program is its centralized structure and oversight. Department chairs and research mentors, as well as participants, are held accountable for the adequacy of protected time and the quality of the mentorship. The progress of VPSD scholars is monitored at six-month intervals by the associate dean for clinical and translational scientist development and the advisory committee. In 2002, Vanderbilt was awarded funding for the Vanderbilt Clinical Research Scholars (VCRS) program, a National Center for Research Resources-funded K12 program, to support the career development of physician–scientists engaged in clinical and translational research. Unlike VPSD scholars, VCRS participants may be selected in the last year of fellowship before appointment to the faculty, must apply for external individual career development funding within two years, and may receive up to three years of program funding. Like the internally funded VPSD, however, the VCRS program was designed to provide centralized oversight of mentorship. Thus, individuals in the VPSD and VCRS and their mentors complete an agreement at the start of their training and a written progress report every six months. Members of the VPSD and VCRS participate in the Annual Visiting Scholar Day during which they meet in small groups with a nationally prominent physician–scientist. They present their research at an annual retreat and participate in a monthly career development seminar series that covers topics such as promotion and tenure, managing a research group, and time management. To measure the impact of these centralized career development programs, we compared early career outcomes for physician–scientists who entered the VPSD or VCRS programs from 2000 through 2006 with those for Vanderbilt physician–scientists who received NIH career development funding during the same period without participating in the VPSD or VCRS. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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