Physician-scientists represent one of the most impactful, yet underrecognized, innovations of 20th century academic medicine. Defined by a commitment to full-time careers in investigative work, physician-scientists have repeatedly demonstrated a unique ability to identify and solve problems of unmet medical need in a focused and intentional manner using their dual training in clinical medicine and the scientific method as both stethoscope and scalpel. Unfortunately, mounting financial pressures from both the clinical and research marketplaces have placed this storied workforce in jeopardy due to the absence of a dedicated and explicitly defined vocational structure and business model. This white paper reports the output of a consortium of academic medical centers, foundations and professional societies seeking to remedy this deficiency. This consortium specifically developed a framework to formalize the career path of physician-scientist faculty into a professionally unified and financially sustainable structure in a way that could be adopted to different U.S. academic medical centers and health systems. Key components of this framework included an administratively operational definition of physician-scientists, and three central and interconnected pillars (academic, financial, and organizational) that are rooted in this foundational definition. Herein, we detail core concepts and concrete recommendations.
Williams et al. (Tue,) studied this question.