Longevity of Physician Scientists

[wholeheartedly]

Our institution posted an internal news story about a researcher here who has been continuously funded by NIH grants for the last 50 years. I google stalked him and he's in his 80s and still licensed to practice. Thought it was cool, he's been involved in some pretty interesting things.

For the more experienced folks, are there a lot of physician scientists who practice beyond the usual retirement age range?

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[Fencer]

There are 3 amazing older researchers (over 72) at our institution. Our principal investigator in the NIH CTSA is an Immunologist, was chair of Dept. of Medicine, and continues to be upbeat publishing and NIH funded at the tender age of 73. He and another endowed chair in Biochemistry (who is 74) are still holding NIH R01 awards. The latter is an amazing woman who is member of the IOM. I was not kidding about "statins". There is another senior MD researcher in our institution who created a physiological technique widely used in his field (just over 6K citations for that paper) who is still NIH funded at 75 and he has a discretionary fund of several million dollars. I am 20+ years younger than these guys...

 

[Neuronix]

Our institution posted an internal news story about a researcher here who has been continuously funded by NIH grants for the last 50 years. I google stalked him and he's in his 80s and still licensed to practice. Thought it was cool, he's been involved in some pretty interesting things.

For the more experienced folks, are there a lot of physician scientists who practice beyond the usual retirement age range?

Not only are there many examples of age 70+ physician-scientists, but the average age of physician-scientists has been increasing. This is a combination of a decreasing supply of money, an aging workforce that is delaying retirement, lengthening training times for the younger generation, and grants being (much) easier to obtain for established investigators.

Source: http://acd.od.nih.gov/reports/PSW_Report_ACD_06042014.pdf

 

[Maebea]

I know an NIH-funded investigator who was born during the Coolidge presidency. These old guys are around, but they are an anomaly.