It is widely anticipated that the sequencing of the human genome, the characterization of the human proteomic map and the underlying advance in technological know-how will give rise to an unprecedented leap in biomedical science over the next half century. It may be that the bottleneck in the equation is the availability of staff trained to understand the scientific data generated and transform it successfully into something with medical value. Such people must have detailed knowledge both of medicine and the practice of scientific investigation. Here, we present three commentaries that endeavor to explain how such hybrid researchers can be recruited, trained and retained.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$209.00 per year
only $17.42 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Rosenberg, L. Physician-scientists—endangered and essential. Science 283, 331–332 (1999).
Wyngaarden, J.B. The clinical investigator as an endangered species. N. Engl. J. Med. 301, 1254–1259 (1979).
Zemlo, T.R., Garrison, H.H., Partridge, N.C. & Ley, T.J. The physician-scientist: Career issues and challenges at the year 2000. FASEB J. 14, 221–230 (2000).
Varki, A. & Rosenberg, L.E. Emerging opportunities and career paths for the young physician-scientist. Nature Med. 8, 437–439 (2002).
Abelmann, W.H., Nave, B.D. & Wilkerson, L. Generation of physician-scientists manpower: A follow-up study of the first 294 graduates of the Harvard-MIT Program of Health Sciences and Technology. J. Invest. Med. 45, 272–275 (1997).
Wilkerson, L. & Abelmann, W.H. Producing physician-scientists: A survey of graduates from the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology. Acad. Med. 68, 214–218 (1993).
Arias, I.M. Training basic scientists to bridge the gap between basic science and its application to human disease. N. Engl. J. Med. 321, 972–974 (1989).
Arias, I. Bridge building between medicine and basic science. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.: USA (in the press).
Bunn, H.F. & Casey, C.G. Educating the biomedical scientist. FASEB J. 9, 1392–1395 (1995).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gray, M., Bonventre, J. Training PhD researchers to translate science to clinical medicine: Closing the gap from the other side. Nat Med 8, 433–436 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm0502-433
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nm0502-433
This article is cited by
-
Assessing Stakeholder Perceptions of the Utility of Genetic Information for the Clinical Care of Mental Health Disorders: We Have a Will but Need to See the Way
Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research (2021)
-
Medicine on a need-to-know basis
Nature Immunology (2006)
-
Organizational challenges in clinical genomic research
Nature (2004)
-
An international solution to recruiting physician-scientists?
Nature Medicine (2002)