Preparing the Next Generation of Academic Researchers During the Pandemic: Lessons from a National Mental Health Research Postdoctoral Fellowship

Abstract

Objective The COVID-19 pandemic has severely disrupted all aspects of academic medicine, including post-doctoral research fellowship training. The current survey examined ways in which research fellows across 28 U.S. nationally diverse sites have been impacted. Methods Survey participants included 62 M.D. and Ph.D. post-doctoral fellows and 27 local fellowship center directors within the Veterans Affairs (VA) Advanced Fellowship in Mental Illness Research and Treatment (MIRT), a national fellowship program tasked to develop academic clinician researchers within the field of mental health. Survey questions focused on productivity and challenges experienced by fellows during the pandemic. Results Half of fellows reported working entirely off-site during the COVID-19 pandemic. All fellows reported some level of disruption in productivity during the pandemic; 73% reported a disruption in data collection, 69% reported decreased scholarly output, 41% reported disruption in grant writing, and 73% reported disruption in ability to provide clinical care. Yet, the majority of fellows (66%) reported not having to change their research goals, pivoting to telehealth-based data collection, and employing extant data for research projects and peer-reviewed publications. Conclusions The results of the fellow and director surveys highlight the associated disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic on fellowship-related activities and parallel ingenuity of programs to continue conducting research and clinical services in a modified fashion. While many research goals continued unabated, the findings suggest alterations in data collection methodology and a focus on using extant data, which may have a residual influence on future early career research grant applications.

Research Training and Education at the Crossroads

“…From time to time the journal spontaneously receives a grouping of articles sharing a similar topic or focus, which may provide a snapshot of the existing state of affairs in a specific area. In the August 2022 issue of Academic Psychiatry, five reports [5][6][7][8][9] and a literary resources column [10] reflect on issues related to research training at present.…”

“…The brief report by Hantke and colleagues [7] examined, via a survey, challenges faced by 62 M.D. and Ph.D. postdoctoral fellows and 27 local fellowship center directors within the Veterans Affairs Advanced Fellowship in Mental Illness Research and Treatment program during the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

“…We believe that this is an area for which various stakeholders (e.g., ACGME, NIMH, American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training) should get together and provide some guidance to the community. Research, research training, and research education are complicated enterprises that require periodic evaluation and reflection, such as from the articles in this issue of Academic Psychiatry [5][6][7][8][9][10]. These reflections will help continue sharpening the agenda and goals of the national mental health enterprise and the education of psychiatry trainees.…”