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The physician scientist: balancing clinical and research duties

Nature Immunology volume 15, pages 1092–1094 (2014)Cite this article

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Physician scientists bridge the gap between biomedical research and clinical practice. However, the continuing decrease in number of people who choose this career path poses a threat to the advancement of biomedical science and the translation of research findings to clinical practice.

Physician scientists generally have both an MD and a PhD and divide their time between clinical care of patients and basic or clinical biomedical research. It has been well documented that the number of physician scientists has been decreasing in recent years1. The evidence for this is the reduction in the proportion of US physicians engaged in research from 3.6% in 1982 to 1.6% in 2011 (ref. 1). This decrease has been attributed to various factors, including the length of the training period, economic factors (such as student debt and difficulty in obtaining research funding) and the challenges inherent in maintaining a high level of competence in both the clinical arena and the research arena. As discussed below, several measures have been put in place by institutions, such as the US National Institute of Heath (NIH), to attempt to increase the number of physician scientists, but the present budgetary climate in the USA is making this difficult. The increasing focus by funding agencies on research that can be translated to the clinic means that more, not fewer, physician scientists are needed. There are still steady numbers of young students who are willing to embark on the path to become physician scientists, but many do not ultimately end up in this career. Many choose to focus either on clinical practice or on biomedical research as it proves too difficult to continue to bridge both worlds. What are the hurdles along the way and how can these be overcome?

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Penelope A. Morel is in the Department of Immunology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, USA.,

    Penelope A Morel

  2. Gillian Ross is with the Royal Marsden Hospital and Institute of Cancer Research, University of London, London, UK.,

    Gillian Ross

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  1. Penelope A Morel
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  2. Gillian Ross
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Correspondence to Penelope A Morel.

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Morel, P., Ross, G. The physician scientist: balancing clinical and research duties. Nat Immunol 15, 1092–1094 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/ni.3010

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