Yin Charles, Steadman Patrick E, Apramian Tavis, Zhou Tianwei E, Ishaque Abdullah, Wang Xin, Kuzyk Alexandra, Warsi Nebras
MD/PhD Candidate at the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, London, Ontario.
Clin Invest Med. 2017 Apr 26;40(2):E95-E101. doi: 10.25011/cim.v40i2.28200.
Clinician-scientists are physicians with training in both clinical medicine and research that enables them to occupy a unique niche as specialists in basic and translational biomedical research. While there is widespread acknowledgement of the importance of clinician-scientists in today's landscape of evidence-based medical practice, training of clinician-scientists in Canada has been on the decline, with fewer opportunities to obtain funding. With the increasing length of training and lower financial compensation, fewer medical graduates are choosing to pursue such a career. MD-PhD programs, in which trainees receive both medical and research training, have the potential to be an important tool in training the next generation of clinician-scientists; however, MD-PhD trainees in Canada face barriers that include an increase in medical school tuition and a decrease in the amount of financial support. We examined the available data on MD-PhD training in Canada and identified a lack of oversight, a lack of funding and poor mentorship as barriers experienced by MD-PhD trainees. Specific recommendations are provided to begin the process of addressing these challenges, starting with the establishment of an overseeing national body that would track long-term outcome data for MD-PhD trainees. This national body could then function to implement best practices from individual programs across the country and to provide further mentorship and support for early-career physician-scientists. MD-PhD programs have the potential to address Canada's growing shortage of clinician-scientists, and strengthening MD-PhD programs will help to effect positive change.
临床科学家是接受过临床医学和研究培训的医生，这使他们能够作为基础和转化生物医学研究领域的专家占据独特的位置。虽然临床科学家在当今循证医学实践格局中的重要性已得到广泛认可，但加拿大临床科学家的培训一直在减少，获得资金的机会也越来越少。随着培训时间的延长和经济报酬的降低，越来越少的医学毕业生选择从事这样的职业。医学博士-哲学博士（MD-PhD）项目让学员同时接受医学和研究培训，有潜力成为培养下一代临床科学家的重要工具；然而，加拿大的MD-PhD学员面临诸多障碍，包括医学院学费上涨和经济支持减少。我们研究了加拿大MD-PhD培训的现有数据，发现缺乏监督、资金不足和指导不力是MD-PhD学员面临的障碍。我们提出了具体建议，以开始应对这些挑战，首先是建立一个监督全国性机构，该机构将跟踪MD-PhD学员的长期成果数据。这个全国性机构随后可以发挥作用，实施全国各项目的最佳做法，并为处于职业生涯早期的医生科学家提供进一步的指导和支持。MD-PhD项目有潜力解决加拿大日益严重的临床科学家短缺问题，加强MD-PhD项目将有助于实现积极的变革。
