2018 AAMC MD/PhD Outcomes Survey

[Lucca]

This came out in April of this year. Have we talked about it on this board?

https://members.aamc.org/eweb/upload/AAMC-National-MDPhD-Program-Outcomes-Study-2018.pdf

Unlike past reports (to my knowledge), this one separates the data out by graduation year cohorts (thus allowing us to distinguish from people who graduated before 1975, during/immediately after the NIH doubling, and 2000-2014).

Some interesting figures in the report. Although the number of MD/PhD grads in PP has gone up, most are still employed in Academia full-time. >60% of those in academia have grant support and >50% of alumni have 50% or greater research effort with about a third >70% effort, and 18% with 80/20 or greater research/clinical. Theres also a section focused on grant support attained by people transitioning to independence (assistant profs from 2004-5 to 2013-14)

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[Fencer]

This study has been released in small pieces and discussed in the board as portions, or earlier cohorts were released in manuscripts. It is the most comprehensive survey of MD/PhD graduates to date (graduates up to 2014). The study was coordinated by the Data Committee of the AAMC MD/PhD section (the group with all of the Program Directors and Administrators of all MD/PhD programs), which is part of the reason for the high participation. An important caveat (but it was addressed as best as it can) was that survey completers were more likely to have followed the traditional academic research path as compared to non-responders (see for example, figure 5). As you indicated, Figure 17 (i.e.: % doing research for alumni employed in academia) was one of the most important contributions of the study. At the moment of the survey, there is a continuous spectrum ranging from 0 to 100% of FTE dedicated to research. In my own career, 21 years after finishing fellowship, my weeks have ranged from 5 to 95% of research tending to be closer to the 30-50%. I have been fortunate to have had research funding at all times, but that was because I went to multiple sources including industry.