Plaza-Jennings Amara L, Ryba Christie B, Tan Jessica, Diaz Jennifer El, Mosley Grace E, Swartz Talia H, Baron Margaret H, Fallar Robert, Parkas Valerie
Medical Scientist Training Program, The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, USA.
Department of Medicine.
JCI Insight. 2025 Apr 8;10(7):e185839. doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.185839.
MD-PhD programs provide interdisciplinary training in medicine and research. Undergraduate pre-health advisors (PHAs) play a critical role in counseling prospective applicants, yet there have been no studies to our knowledge of MD-PhD pre-health advising. Here we surveyed 280 PHAs from US colleges and universities using both qualitative and quantitative measures that assessed their real-world advising behaviors as well as standardized evaluation of 1 of 2 fictional MD-PhD applicants, identical except for gender. We identified 3 factors that influenced advising behaviors: experience advising MD-PhD applicants, attitudes toward MD-PhD programs, and gender bias. Those PHAs with less experience and who held negative attitudes toward MD-PhD programs were less likely to initiate discussions about MD-PhD programs with qualified applicants and less likely to recommend the fictional applicants apply to MD-PhD programs. Finally, there was subtle gender bias that favored the male applicant. PHAs face challenges in advising MD-PhD applicants because there are relatively few MD-PHD applicants overall and there is a lack of resources to guide them. Addressing these challenges by strengthening collaborations with PHAs and providing comprehensive information about the value of and applicant qualifications for MD-PhD programs is crucial to enhancing MD-PhD advising, mitigating effects of bias, and expanding the pool of qualified applicants.
医学博士-哲学博士联合培养项目提供医学与研究方面的跨学科培训。本科阶段的健康预科顾问（PHA）在为未来的申请者提供咨询方面发挥着关键作用，但据我们所知，尚未有关于医学博士-哲学博士联合培养项目健康预科咨询的研究。在此，我们对美国高校的280名健康预科顾问进行了调查，采用定性和定量方法，评估他们在现实中的咨询行为，以及对两名虚构的医学博士-哲学博士申请者之一进行标准化评估，这两名申请者除性别外完全相同。我们确定了影响咨询行为的三个因素：指导医学博士-哲学博士申请者的经验、对医学博士-哲学博士联合培养项目的态度以及性别偏见。那些经验较少且对医学博士-哲学博士联合培养项目持负面态度的健康预科顾问，与合格申请者展开关于医学博士-哲学博士联合培养项目讨论的可能性较小，也不太可能推荐虚构的申请者申请医学博士-哲学博士联合培养项目。最后，存在轻微的性别偏见，更青睐男性申请者。健康预科顾问在为医学博士-哲学博士联合培养项目申请者提供咨询时面临挑战，因为总体而言医学博士-哲学博士联合培养项目的申请者相对较少，且缺乏指导他们的资源。通过加强与健康预科顾问的合作，并提供有关医学博士-哲学博士联合培养项目的价值和申请者资格的全面信息来应对这些挑战，对于加强医学博士-哲学博士联合培养项目咨询、减轻偏见影响以及扩大合格申请者群体至关重要。
