Recent articles about translational research and physician-scientist training

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Hey thanks for the heads up!

Certainly puts Penn in a good light - now I need to go look at the institutes that received an NIH CTS Award. Sounds like some stiff competition for those Young Investigator/Early Career Awards...hopefully funding will continue (start?) to increase. The article brings up a good point about the difficulties of obtaining tenure when most of your work is patient-related instead of with model systems. I wonder if any institutions are going to change the current tenure system for those in translational research.

Once again, thanks for telling us about the special feature in science!

-j
 
Very cool article. Discuss?

Although I like the idea of teaching medicine to PhD, I don't think there is anything better for doing clinically-relevant research than practicing as a clinician and knowing what hurdles you are facing now. This is what we Mud-Phuds were designed to do. It is a shame that many of us end up just doing basic research or clinical stuff alone. It is puzzling that the NIH would pump so much money into creating us and then not fund the career they dreamed we would do. There was definitely some nice info in the article, but I feel I need a manual or something on how to get into translational medicine, especially now that I'm nervous about some of the issues raised in the article.

And of course, Penn is the best, as usual.
 
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I have to say that the article could have gone a little more into clinical science (my PhD- so of course I love it!). Plus they praised PENN (where they also killed a healthy volunteer with their tranlational gene therapy......) but the big push for translational/clinical research training started at Hopkins, followed closely by Denver then UTMB....when I started my PhD everyone thought I was crazy but now that I am done it seems to have been the right choice to make....
Just hope it helps with getting the residency spot I want!
 
in the Harvard HST program, we have classes with students who are engineering/physics Ph.D. students and also business students.. they apply to the program showing an interest in developing applications for medicine, and are required to take many of our classes. Although it is tough for them because the classes take up a lot of time, from what I hear, they all think the courses are very relevant and useful for them as well. they come on our clinics and participate, just without the white coat.

anyway, it's interesting to hear about other such initiatives. i was pretty surprised and skeptical to see these students in our classes at first, but now i think it's a great idea.
 
I like the article, despite the fact that T1 and T2 confuses the heck out of me being a researcher in MRI.

It's obvious that MD/PhD programs are almost entirely geared towards T1 and while MD/PhD in general talks about "translational" research, they usually mean the T1 type. In my opinion, it's up to the NIH to allow for more T2 type researchers to come on board in MD/PhD through emphasis and funding.
 
An excellent article was just published in Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology:

How to succeed in science: a concise guide for young biomedical scientists. Part I: taking the plunge
"Although biomedical research has never been more intellectually exciting or practically important to society, pursuing a career as a biomedical scientist has never been more difficult. This article provides advice and gives tips on finding the right laboratory for Ph.D. and postdoctoral training."

http://www.nature.com/nrm/journal/v9/n5/full/nrm2389.html

EDIT:

Part II is published in advance online, here:

How to succeed in science: a concise guide for young biomedical scientists. Part II: making discoveries
"Making discoveries is the most important part of being a scientist, and also the most fun. Young scientists need to develop the experimental and mental skill sets that enable them to make discoveries, including how to recognize and exploit serendipity when it strikes. Here, I provide practical advice to young scientists on choosing a research topic, designing, performing and interpreting experiments and, last but not least, on maintaining your sanity in the process."
Click to expand...

http://www.nature.com/nrm/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nrm2390.html
 
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Skills, not papers. Contrary to what you might have heard, it is not critical to have a spectacular publication record from your Ph.D. When the time comes to apply for a tenure-track job, the selection committee will focus on the productivity and promise you displayed during your postdoctoral fellowship. Furthermore, a solid Ph.D. with one good first-author paper that is based largely on your own work is all that is usually required to obtain the postdoctoral position of your dreams, particularly for citizens of the United States, who are in short supply at this level. Your focus as a graduate student should be to develop all of the skills you will need to be an independent scientist.
Click to expand...

👍👍👍
 
j-weezy said:
Hey thanks for the heads up!

Certainly puts Penn in a good light - now I need to go look at the institutes that received an NIH CTS Award. Sounds like some stiff competition for those Young Investigator/Early Career Awards...hopefully funding will continue (start?) to increase. The article brings up a good point about the difficulties of obtaining tenure when most of your work is patient-related instead of with model systems. I wonder if any institutions are going to change the current tenure system for those in translational research.

Once again, thanks for telling us about the special feature in science!

-j
Click to expand...

NIH CTSA just announced recipients of round 3 of awards, bringing the total to 38 awards. Plans are for awards to eventually total $500 million annually with 60 centers.
 
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If you haven't been looking already, Nature Medicine has begun a series of articles relating to translational research. Each issue, a pair of articles entitled "bench to bedside" and "bedside to bench" are published discussing an example of recent translational research. The editors are also introducing a "community corner" where a paper's translational implications will be discussed by three senior scientists.

Introduction: http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/v14/n5/full/nm0508-468b.html

May 2008:
Community Corner: Aryl hydrocarbons in multiple sclerosis
http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/v14/n5/full/nm0508-491.html

Bedside --> Bench: IFNa in eliminating leukemic stem cells
http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/v14/n5/full/nm0508-494.html

Bench --> Bedside: BRCA1&2 mutations in chemoresistance
http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/v14/n5/full/nm0508-495.html

June 2008:
Community Corner: Controversy in mechanism: siRNA against VEGF in macular degeneration
http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/v14/n6/full/nm0608-611.html

Bench --> Bedside: IFNb, APCs, and Multiple Sclerosis
http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/v14/n6/full/nm0608-614.html

Bedside --> Bench: Rituximab, MS, and B-cell function
http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/v14/n6/full/nm0608-615.html

July 2008:
Bedside --> Bench: Anti-schizophrenia drug to anti-obesity drug
http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/v14/n7/full/nm0708-720.html

Bench --> Bedside: Rimonabant in solving adult epilepsy post infantile fever-induced seizures
http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/v14/n7/full/nm0708-721.html

Community Corner: Why doesn't hypothermia help in kids with traumatic brain injuries?
http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/v14/n7/full/nm0708-717.html
 
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Characteristics and Career Intentions of the Emerging MD/PhD Workforce
JAMA 10 September 2008
Vol. 300. no. 10, pp. 1165-1173

MD/PhD programs: a call for accounting (Editorial)
JAMA 10 September 2008
Leon Rosenberg, Princeton
 
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Haha, there's no way I'm going to end up a medical librarian. Not that the job is unimportant, but the two careers are in no way related...I think they could have come up with a better alternative.
 
Editorial in Science Magazine on translational science
By Nancy Andrews et al
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/324/5929/855

Science Magazine hosts new "Clinical and Translational Science Network"
http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/ctscinet
http://listserv.aaas.org/mailman/listinfo/ctscinet_alert
http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.or...s_issues/articles/2009_05_15/caredit.a0900065 (Read These!)
http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.or...s_issues/articles/2009_05_15/caredit.a0900064 (Read These Too!)

Articles include:

Perspective: Traversing the Bridge Years--Advice for Future Physician-Scientists
by Skip Brass MD PhD
http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.or...s_issues/articles/2009_05_15/caredit.a0900061
 
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The advancement of translational medicine—from regional challenges to global solutions
Salvatore Albani and Berent Prakken
Nature Medicine 15, 1006 - 1009 (2009)

http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/v15/n9/full/nm0909-1006.html

In the land of the monolingual
Editorial
Nature Medicine 15, 975 (2009)

Translating a basic finding into a new therapy requires us to speak many languages—scientific, clinical, legal and financial. Yet most of us are hopelessly 'monolingual', a limitation that substantially slows translational research. Steps have been taken to address this problem, but a lot remains to be done.

http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/v15/n9/full/nm0909-975.html
 
The title is actually the "The Vanishing Physician-Scientist" and it was a project that was spun off from the Association of Professors of Medicine's Physician Scientist Initiative Consensus Conference on the Revitalization of the Physician Scientist Workforce.
 
How to Succeed as a Clinician Scientist in the Year 2009 and Beyond
Andrew I. Schafer, Cornell
American Federation for Medical Research Career Development Workshop
PDF:
http://www.afmr.org/files/2009/How-to-Succeed-as-a-Clinician-AFMR-Career-Development-Workshop.pdf

The Vanishing Physician-Scientist?
Andrew Schafer, Cornell
Translational Research, article in press [article is not available yet]
http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1016/j.trsl.2009.09.006

The attrition of young physician-scientists: problems and potential solutions.
Donowitz et al.
Gastroenterology. 2007 Feb;132(2):477-80.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17258744
 
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With all due respect to Dr. Brass, I get the impression that he can't stand seeing MD/PhD students choose radiology, derm, or surgical sub-specialties. At our recent site visit, he grilled all of us who were contemplating these paths, almost to the point of suggesting that we were somehow robbing the NIH of dollars spent for training. I believe that if he had his way, no MD/PhDs would be permitted to apply for these specialties. He came off as arrogant and insulting to many well trained and dedicated students who had dedicated 8+ years of their youth to pursue their goals. Suggesting that there is no part for the physician-scientist in these fields is ludicrous.

Just my $.02.
 
gstrub said:
With all due respect to Dr. Brass, I get the impression that he can't stand seeing MD/PhD students choose radiology, derm, or surgical sub-specialties. At our recent site visit, he grilled all of us who were contemplating these paths, almost to the point of suggesting that we were somehow robbing the NIH of dollars spent for training. I believe that if he had his way, no MD/PhDs would be permitted to apply for these specialties. He came off as arrogant and insulting to many well trained and dedicated students who had dedicated 8+ years of their youth to pursue their goals. Suggesting that there is no part for the physician-scientist in these fields is ludicrous.

Just my $.02.
Click to expand...

This post really made me laugh. At least this article dropped those stupid ratios we have debated in other posts. I don't really understand the agenda behind trying to push people towards medicine or path careers they may not be interested in.

I also don't see how you can report that 82% of grads are in academics and 64% devote > 50% of their time to research and then complain about their choice of field.
 
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