Physician-Scientists in Academic Medicine
Physician-scientists, MDs or DOs with or without additional degrees who contribute to scientific investigation as part of their careers, are a vital component of the biomedical research workforce. Despite their critical role in advancing medicine, declining numbers of medical students, early-career faculty, and residents are entering physician-scientist careers, and the number of physician investigators funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has been relatively flat over many years.
AAMC Committee on Creating a Physician-Scientist Training and Career Development Home
The AAMC is committed to the growth and professional development of physician-scientists. The AAMC convened an expert Committee to develop recommendations for medical schools and teaching hospitals to more comprehensively nurture physician-scientists across the continuum of training and early career development (see the Committee Roster (PDF) and the Committee Charge (PDF)). Though the committee's charge is comprehensive, a major AAMC effort was focused on identifying models of institutional physician-scientist hubs - deemed "homes" - that support physician-scientists in training and early-career faculty. The report below represents the culmination of this effort.
New Release! Exploring the Landscape for Physician Scientist Training and Career Development
This 2024 AAMC report acts as a resource for institutions that are seeking models and potential strategies to better support their physician-scientist learners and early-career faculty in navigating known barriers to their success. Through the eleven detailed institutional case studies provided in this report, institutions are given a roadmap to spark conversation and help them reflect on the many diverse approaches that can be used to augment and improve their own institutional models of physician-scientist training and career development.
Additional Resources
- AAMC Analysis on Research-Engaged Physicians: The AAMC published a research letter in JAMA Network Open analyzing the prevalence and characteristics of research-engaged physicians in the United States, based on the 2022 National Sample Survey of Physicians. For more information, please visit the Data and Reports page.
- National MD-PhD Program Outcomes Study: A 2018 report from the AAMC's Group on Graduate Research, Education, and Training (GREAT) that tracks the careers of MD-PhD dual-degree program graduates over 50 years (1964-2014) and highlights results of a research project that explored their career paths.
- NIH Advisory Committee to the Director Physician-Scientist Workforce Working Group: The NIH Advisory Committee to the Director Working Group on the Physician-Scientist Workforce issued a report in 2014 with "recommendations for actions that NIH should take to support a sustainable and diverse clinical research infrastructure, as well as recommendations for actions needed by other relevant stakeholders."