Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Mar;28(3):1049-58.
doi: 10.1096/fj.13-241687. Epub 2013 Dec 2.

NIH research funding and early career physician scientists: continuing challenges in the 21st century

Howard H Garrison  1 , Anne M Deschamps
Affiliations

NIH research funding and early career physician scientists: continuing challenges in the 21st century

Howard H Garrison et al. FASEB J. 2014 Mar.

Abstract

Physician scientists (researchers with either M.D. or M.D.-Ph.D. degrees) have the unique potential to combine clinical perspectives with scientific insight, and their participation in biomedical research has long been an important topic for policymakers and educators. Given the recent changes in the research environment, an update and extension of earlier studies of this population was needed. Our findings show that physician scientists are less likely to take a major role in biomedical research than they were in the past. The number of physician scientists receiving postdoctoral research training and career development awards is at an all-time low. Physician scientists today, on average, receive their first major research award (R01 equivalent) at a later age than in the 1980s. The number of first-time R01-equivalent awards to physicians is at the same level as it was 30 yr ago, but physicians now represent a smaller percentage of the grant recipients. The long-term decline in the number of physicians entering research careers was temporarily halted during the period of substantial U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) budget growth (1998-2003). These gains are lost, however, in the subsequent years when NIH budgets failed to keep pace with rising costs.

Keywords: science policy; training; workforce.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
NIH appropriations in current and constant dollars from 1982 through 2013. Does not include American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Number and percentage of U.S. physicians who report research as their major professional activity on the Physicians' Practice Arrangements questionnaire. The definition of research includes physicians in activities that develop new medical knowledge and includes physicians in research fellowships. Percentage is calculated using active physicians.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Information on student interest in a research career was obtained from the AAMC MSQ and GQ, which survey these student populations annually. Aggregate responses to the question on the MSQ and GQ “How extensively do you expect to be involved in research during your medical career?” were collected. Those specifying either an exclusive or a significant involvement in research were deemed interested in a research career. Nonresponses were excluded from analysis. MSQ asked this question from 1987 through 2006, while GQ asked this question from 1982 through 1996 and 2000 through 2011.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Number and percentage of physicians in postdoctoral fellowships. A) Data for the number of M.D.s and M.D.-Ph.D.s on postdoctoral NIH T32 Institutional Research Training grants from 1982 through 2009. T32 data include awardees receiving funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Data were provided by NIH through FOIA requests. B) Data for percentage of physicians on T32 Institutional Research Training grants from 1982 to 2009. Percentages were calculated based on total number of trainees on T32 grants per fiscal year. C) Data for number of applications and awards for NIH F32 Individual Research Training grants from 2002 through 2011. Data were collected using the NIH RePORT Report Catalog. D) Data for percentage of physicians on F32 Individual Research Training grants from 2002 to 2011. Percentages were calculated based on total number of applications received and awards given per fiscal year.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Early career grant application and awards for clinical doctorate degree holders. A) Data for the number of applications and awards for K08 Mentored Clinical Scientist Research Career Development Awards from 1982 through 2011. B) Data for the number of applications and awards for K23 Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Awards from 2002 through 2011. K08 and K23 data were collected using the NIH RePORT Report Catalog and from earlier transmissions from NIH.
Figure 6.
Figure 6.
First major grant applications and awards for M.D.s and M.D.-Ph.D.s. A) Data for number of first-time R01-equivalent applications and awards for M.D.s and M.D.-Ph.D.s from 1985 through 2011. Due to the large number of cases with missing information on doctorate degree, the analysis of R01-equivalent grants does not use data between1982 and 1984 and begins with 1985. B) Data for percentage of applications and awards for M.D.s and M.D.-Ph.D.s from 1985 to 2011. Percentages were calculated based on the total number of applications and awards per fiscal year. C) Data for average age of first-time R01 equivalent awardees from 1982 through 2011. Average age of first-time R01-equivalent awardees includes the R29 award in earlier years and the DP2 in 2008 and later.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Their S., Challoner D. R., Cockerham J., Johns T., Mann M., Skinner D., Weldond V., Whybrow P., Young F., Sherman J., Plumb D., Bickel J., Morgan T. (1980) Proposals addressing the decline in the training of physician investigators: report of the ad hoc committee of the AAMC. Clin. Res. 28, 85–93
    1. Rockey S. (2013) Does your academic training destine your choice of research subject? Rock Talk blog, February 1, http://nexus.od.nih.gov/all/2013/02/01/does-your-academic-training-desti...
    1. Schafer A. I. (2009). The history of physican as scientist. In The Vanishing Physician-Scientist (Schafer A. I., ed) pp. 17–38, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, USA
    1. Wyngaarden J. B. (1979) The clinical investigator as an endangered species. N. Engl. J. Med. 301, 1254–1259 - PubMed
    1. Gill G. N. (1984) The end of the physician-scientist? Am. Scholar, 53, 353–368

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources