Impact of a Respiratory Disease Young Investigators' Forum on the Career Development of Physician-Scientists

Abstract

Background: To reverse the dramatic decline in the U.S. physician-scientist workforce, interventions are necessary to retain physicians in research careers.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of an annual 3-day symposium, the Respiratory Disease Young Investigators' Forum (RDYIF), designed to guide fellows and junior faculty into successful physician-scientist careers.

Methods: In this retrospective, observational study, a questionnaire was e-mailed to 308 physicians who participated in the RDYIF between 2005 and 2018. The questionnaire was administered by National Jewish Health study personnel in the spring of 2019. Responses were primarily analyzed using descriptive and qualitative approaches.

Results: The response rate was 39.3% (n = 121), with 107 of responders (88.4%) completing the full survey. The majority of survey completers currently worked as physician-scientists (76.6%; n = 82), held faculty positions (88.8%; n = 95) in an academic center (90.6%; n = 97), and were currently involved in research (93.4%; n = 100). The majority had been an author on ≥10 peer-reviewed publications (61.3%, n = 65) and had been awarded research grants (71.7%; n = 76). Thirty completers (28.3%) had served as a principal investigator on one or more clinical trials. Completers indicated that participation in the RDYIF had a "strong impact" or "very strong impact" on their career development as physician-scientists.

Conclusion: Participation in the RDYIF strengthened participants' interest in physician-scientist careers and appeared to track with successful career development. Young Investigator Forums such as the RDYIF may be an effective intervention to support the declining supply of physician-scientists in North America.

Keywords: basic science research; career development; clinical research; mentoring; physician-scientists.

Figure 1.

Assessment of the impact of Respiratory Disease Young Investigators’ Forum (RDYIF) participation on career development. In response to the request “As it relates to your career, please rate the degree to which you feel the RDYIF had an impact on the following factors,” selections included “no impact,” “low impact,” “neutral,” “strong impact,” and “very strong impact.”