Medical College of Wisconsin Physician Scientist Immersion Program

We have a unique opportunity to recruit, train, and retain promising physician-scientist candidates in academic medicine and intend to reverse the troubling losses from the physician-scientist pool. Using evidence-based techniques, we designed the Medical College of Wisconsin Physician-Scientist Immersion Program (MCW-PSIP) to focus on cultivating and maximizing local interest in careers as a physician-scientist in the Departments of Medicine (internal medicine), Surgery, Anesthesia and Pediatrics. Resident trainees will be immersed in a well- resourced and supportive program that is designed with specific milestones, training, and metrics for both trainees and mentors and will lead to participant eligibility for certification by the American Board of Medical Specialties. The MCW-PSIP is designed to train residents with a wide range of prior research experience, from those with minimal prior research exposure to those with prior Ph.D. training. Our research training program provides 23-24 months of enrollment in research blocks to fulfill programmatic requirements and expectations and overcome challenges faced by all resident trainees as they begin laying the foundations for their academic careers. Our goal for the proposed MCW-PSIP is to provide critically needed intensive mentoring, instill the necessary research skills training, and provide all necessary support for resident-investigators to grow into and thrive as independent physician-scientists either in basic or clinical and translational research. Our approach during our first four funding years (R38HL143561) supports the success of MCW-PSIP’s methods, and lessons learned during that time have led programmatic expansion and enhancements more fully delineated in our application. In the short-term, the resident-investigator will acquire the knowledge and critical skills needed to lead and complete a research project and produce presentations and publications that will be necessary to successfully compete for a full range of training awards, including K38 and K08/K23 awards. Long-term, for our institution, this pathway will serve as a feeder for its sub-specialty programs in Medicine, Surgery, Anesthesia, and Pediatrics. We further expect long-term, successful candidates will join a cadre of physician-scientist junior faculty at MCW or another academic institution in the U.S. Our proposal has two specific aims: Aim 1: To expand, recruit, and execute the MCW Internal Medicine Physician-Scientist Immersion Program for the development of physician-scientists through the R38 mechanism Aim 2: To quantify the success and challenges of the MCW Internal Medicine Physician Scientist Program through benchmarking, milestones, surveys, and expert review 1