Clinical Scholars Career Development Program (CSCDP)

Project Summary The Clinician Scholar Career Development Program (CSCDP) is an annual two-day training workshop for orthopaedic residents in their PGY2-PGY5 years, surgeons in fellowships, and junior faculty (through year three) who have the potential and desire to become orthopaedic clinician scholars. Clinician scholars advance the field of orthopaedics through innovative research and peer-reviewed funding. The CSCDP seeks the best and the brightest; CSCDP participants are selected via a highly competitive application process. The program was created in 2003 as the Clinician Scientist Development Program to address a growing concern over the steady decline of orthopaedic clinician researchers and to confront the lack of basic and clinical research in many residency programs. The CSCDP has been a partnership between the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), the Orthopaedic Research Society (ORS), and the Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation (OREF) since its inception and has expanded over the years to include more participants and cover a wide array of issues spanning the career timeline of a clinician scholar. General session topics include “Beginning Your Career as a Clinician Scientist (Scholar)”; “Orthopaedic Research: Bench or Bedside?”; “Work-Life Balance”; “Challenges and Successes: Personal Experiences from CSCDP Graduates”; “Diversity in Orthopaedics”; “Building Blocks for a Successful Clinician Scientist Career”; “Research Collaboration”. Program participants seek to enhance the competencies needed for success as both a surgeon and a scientist: scientific knowledge, professionalism, responsible conduct of research, research skill development, management and leadership skills, and communication skills. The CSCDP has a proven track record of success and offers world-class scientific faculty mentors, including department chairs, NIH R01 and other grant recipients, and highly published authors. The two-day program includes didactic lectures, interactive small group breakout discussions, networking meals, and interactive panel discussions with faculty. Participants in the program gain insight into pathways to success in a scholarly career through departmental support, protected research time, collaboration, funding resources, and work-life balance. They learn to maximize efficiency based on individual career priorities and increased awareness of grant funding opportunities. By the end of the program, participants are able to create 5- and 10-year plans for their career development with concrete clinical and research goals.