Maintaining a Robust Pipeline of Future Physician-Scientists

Abstract

Perhaps the most dramatic finding in the 2014 National Institutes of Health Physician-Scientist Workforce Working Group Report is the aging of the physician-scientist workforce. There are currently 1.6-fold more physician-scientists over the age of 61 than under the age of 50, indicating that our pipeline of physician-scientists is insufficient to maintain current numbers. Several factors likely contribute to this leaky pipeline, including the long training periods, poor compensation during training, diminished funding odds for young investigators, and lack of role models, particularly for women and underrepresented minorities. This perspective will present several ideas for how training programs can play a role in assuring a robust pipeline of future physician scientists.

Figure 1.

The aging of the physician-scientist workforce. The ratio of investigators ≥61 years to those ≤50 years, the age at first Research Project Grant (R01) for MD/PhDs, and the age of all MD/PhD awardees are displayed. Data are from [1].