NIH Warns of Imminent Drop in Number of Physician-Scientists

Report: “Physician-Scientist Workforce Working Group Report”

Author: The Physician-Scientist Workforce Working Group

Organization: National Institutes of Health

Summary: The Working Group was formed by the NIH’s director, Francis S. Collins, in December 2012 out of concern that the United States might soon face a shortage of researchers trained as both physicians and scientists. One of the group’s main achievements in its report, released last week, is a quantification of that problem—a tally of 13,717 active physician-scientists, or about 1 percent of all American medical doctors.

Especially alarming, the panel said, was its finding that the fastest-growing segment of physician-scientists is those age 60 and above, while the number of those in every age group under 60 is declining.

The panel described a number of financial and career pressures that were leading students off the expensive and time-consuming path of becoming both a physician and a researcher, and it offered a series of recommendations for universities, the NIH, and others to help deal with the problem.

For the NIH, the suggestions included reworking grant programs to encourage postdoctoral training for physicians through individual fellowships rather than institutional awards. Among other problems needing attention, it cited growing regulatory burdens on doctors who are trying to maintain a clinical practice, and changes in immigration policy affecting a significant share of physician-scientists.

Bottom Line: The problem was suspected, but the actual size and immediacy were surprising, and at a time of tight budgetary constraints the nation now has another area of urgent medical need requiring attention on multiple fronts.