Developing Evidence-based Strategies to Expand the Physician-Scientist Workforce (INSIGHT)

Physician-scientists play a critical role in the biomedical workforce, yet there is a well-recognized shortage of those with dual expertise in medicine and scientific research. Growing the physician-scientist workforce is a national priority; the United States Congress has formally asked the NIH to recognize the vital importance of training physician-scientists. NIH has cited inadequate professional development during medical school as a barrier to physician-scientist development. There is growing attention in medical education to the importance of professional identity formation, defined as the development of values, beliefs, aspirations, and sense of affiliation aligned with the norms of the profession.

There is evidence that experiences during medical school play a critical role in shaping physician-scientist professional identity formation, yet little is known about training practices and organizational characteristics of medical schools with the greatest success in physician-scientist professional identity formation among medical students. We propose a multi-stage mixed methods study to identify the training practices and organizational characteristics of MD programs with greatest success in physician-scientist professional identity formation among single-degree medical students. This objective will be achieved through the following specific aims: 1) use data from the Association of American Medical Colleges [AAMC] Graduation Questionnaire [GQ] to identify MD programs which consistently demonstrate greatest success in physician-scientist professional identity formation among medical students; 2) develop hypotheses about best practices and organizational characteristics for promoting physician-scientist professional identity formation by conducting in-depth qualitative interviews at MD programs demonstrating the greatest success in physician-scientist professional identity formation, and; 3) evaluate associations between practices and organizational characteristics identified in Aim 2 and success in physician-scientist professional identity formation through a national survey to identify best practices and characteristics that are broadly applicable to U.S. MD programs.

This study is significant because it will address the lack of evidence-based approaches to research training and inform efforts to grow the physician-scientist workforce. Dissemination will take the form of scholarly publications and real-world communications (toolkit, website, podcasts, etc.) in partnership with high-profile national organizations, e.g., AAMC, for maximal impact.

Grant Number: 5R01GM146147-04
NIH Institute/Center: NIH
Principal Investigator: Sarwat Chaudhry