Filling the bench-to-bed gap
“Since the early 1970s, the gap between basic
science and medicine has increased largely because science
has become more complicated,” Irwin Arias of the
Tufts University School of Medicine wrote in a report
last year. “Physicians are not entering patient-oriented
research at a time that provides the greatest opportunities
for research into the cause, mechanism, prevention and
treatment of major diseases.”
Nationwide, there is room for about 2% of first-year
medical students in the medical scientist training programs
leading to the type of combined MD/PhD degree held by
Christopher Hug.
And medical students are not exactly pounding on the
doors of labs. “Only 6% of first-year matriculants
think curing disease is the most important purpose of
medicine,” noted Eric Neilson of Vanderbilt University
School of Medicine last year in the Journal of Clinical
Investigation. “The average person on the street
seems more committed to medical research than our students.”
Other factors discouraging a dual career include the
prolonged training, the burden of keeping up in two
fast-moving professions, the competitiveness for research
funding, the pressure for doctors to see more patients,
and the time and motivation to do both.
The National Institutes of Health offers funding specifically
for patient-oriented research for investigators at the
beginning and middle of their careers. NIH also has
a program to pay off the large debts of recently graduated
doctors who conduct patient-oriented research.
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute launched a $10
million program in December that awards grants to science
graduate programs that incorporate medicine and pathophysiology.
HHMI already supports two programs that introduce medical
students to basic research. Other private foundations
also provide support to physician-scientists, such as
the Charles H. Hood Foundation Child Health Research
grant that funds Hug’s work. And the pediatric
pulmonary division of Children’s chips in as well.
Return
to main story.
Last updated July 6, 2005.
|
