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Training, faculty morale factors in career path
A recent research project examined the effects of 22 separate variables.
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The majority of fellows in training are part of a combined hematology and oncology program where academics are a way of life, so each fellow is faced with a choice of whether to continue in academics following matriculation or to go into private practice.
A recent report in the Journal of Cancer Education by Scott D. Gitlin, MD, an associate professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan, surveyed 31 division directors from 26 research centers.
Gitlin and colleagues wanted to look at what made someone choose to go into clinical research as opposed to private practice. They observed the effects of 22 factors to determine who was interested in research at the beginning of year one and at the end of year one.
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Initially the investigators noted that the interest in patient-oriented clinical research decreased from 68% to 56%.
According to the surveys, the fellows were most likely to maintain an interest in clinical research if they were able to complete a clinical research project or they were required to submit a protocol for approval to an institutional review board. They were also more likely to maintain interest if there was some sort of clinical research track or graduate degree credit for patient-oriented clinical research.
At the University of Minnesota, for those fellows interested in research, in general, the first year training is all clinical, the second year is all research and the third year is divided in half clinical and half research training.
In my program at the University of Minnesota, you are not on-call during your research time, whereas during the clinical time, you are on-call more frequently.
In Gitlin's study, he found that 41% of the centers surveyed had protected time for research, but this was heavily dependent on extramural support.
Of the 17 centers who had junior faculty on the tenure track, the only variable that was associated with tenure success was excellent faculty morale. The greatest predictor of good faculty morale was whether the faculty members felt that they were supported in their research pursuits.
After the surveyed fellows graduated, Gitlin and colleagues assessed their career choices. Of the 56% of fellows who had expressed an interest in pursuing patient oriented research, only 45% stayed with clinical research. Another 45% went into private practice, 8% pursued laboratory research in an academic center, and 2% went to work for the pharmaceutical industry.
Fellows were most likely to continue to pursue a career in clinical research if they had successfully obtained an award for independent funding or had completed a project.
For more information:
- Mark Klein, MD, a fellow in the division of hematology, oncology and transplantation at the University of Minnesota, is section editor of Hem/Onc Today's Fellows' Affairs section.
- Gitlin SD, Yuan Z, Little RJ, Todd RF. Factors that influence successful training and faculty career development in hematology/oncology patient-oriented clinical research. J Cancer Educ. 2005;20:72-78.