Piloting a long distance clinician scientist trainee mentorship match in Canada

Abstract

Clinician scientists are physicians who are uniquely trained to bridge the gap between scientific discovery and clinical practice. However, the challenges of integrating research and medicine are often not directly addressed in the clinician scientist training programs. Furthermore, the demanding training path is financially and personally daunting. Previous studies have shown that MD/PhD trainees value the advice and expertise of senior mentors in navigating their academic career path. Despite this demand for mentors, there is a lack of formal mentorship initiatives at the institutional level across Canada. Recently, MD/PhD trainees have attempted to address this issue by implementing a nationwide mentorship match, with the aim of making mentorship more accessible to trainees across Canada.

Curricula, Teaching Methods, and Success Metrics of Clinician–Scientist Training Programs: A Scoping Review

“…8 The decades-long discussion of clinicianscientists as an "endangered species" 9 has identified challenges related to training, resources, and career demands as major threats to the role. Specifically, clinicianscientists contend with prolonged education and high student debt, 8,10 limited mentorship opportunities, 8,[11][12][13] and competitive criteria for grant funding and faculty promotion that are unadjusted in the hybrid role. 1,5,14 As their careers progress, many clinicianscientists also struggle with intense time conflicts, 15,16 which can exacerbate the incidence of burnout already common in clinical science faculty.…”

Challenges and opportunities for future Canadian physician-scientists: Perspectives of four experts

“…To this end, the publication by Skinnider et al provides an important cross-sectional overview of the recent national figures on MD/PhD outcomes [4], but this work will need to be continued in order to assess trends. Local survey data, such as in the work by Pietrobon et al [5], and evaluations of specific novel initiatives in physician-scientist training [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13], also serve to identify specific factors that facilitate success. Based on the frequency that the need for such data was raised by interviewees and in prior publications [1], there would be clear value in the establishment of a regularly updated and open access database on physician-scientist training and practice in Canada.…”

Can a virtual on-line nation-wide mentorship-matching process meet the need?

“…In this issue of Clinical and Investigative Medicine, Mirali and her CITAC colleagues [3] underscore the need for mentors by physician scientist trainees. This opinion reinforces the message of a previous CITAC publication [4].…”