Presented by Ram Kumar Subramanyan, MBBS, PhD, FACS
(Recorded March 2017)
Significant advances in surgery have been made over the past century, largely due to the tireless efforts of surgeon-scientists who work at the interface between clinical practice and scientific endeavor. Over the past decade, the funding environment—combined with increasing clinical demands—has created significant obstacles to the success of the aspiring surgeon-scientist. This session focuses on strategies to identify, support, and mentor young surgeon-scientists early in their career.
The NIH Physician Scientist Workforce Working Group recently published a report that predicts a concerning future for physician researchers, suggesting that early career physician scientists are struggling to secure funding, obtain institutional support, and are succumbing to high rates of attrition due to increasing clinical demands and a poor work-life balance. In the case of surgeon-scientists, the report of the Blue Ribbon Committee of the American Surgical Association declared that the future of surgery as an academic and professional discipline might depend on how high research is on the priority scale of surgical education and practice. The difficulties with this dual role have been even more pronounced in the surgical specialties, where a smaller proportion of trainees entering surgical residency have completed a formal MD/PhD program, and the training programs are longer and more clinically demanding. In addition, surgeons are less successful in obtaining NIH funding when compared to their non-surgeon colleagues. Our webinar delves into these issues with the goal of addressing how to cultivate the next generation of surgeon-scientists. We cover topics including training to be a surgeon-scientist, establishing the appropriate environment, transitioning to independence, and the barriers to a successful transition.
Learning Objectives
In this webinar, you will hear about:
- The role and need for surgeon-scientists
- Strategies related to training and defining oneself an early career surgeon-scientist
- Factors that have led to a decrease in the surgeon-scientist workforce, and barriers to a successful career as a surgeon-scientist
- Strategies for transitioning to independence and establishing as a surgeon-scientist
About Ram Kumar Subramanyan
Ram Kumar Subramanyan, MD, PhD, is a practicing cardiac surgeon-scientist. His clinical practice at the University of Southern California (USC)/Children’s Hospital, Los Angeles, encompasses surgical management of congenital heart lesions. He also runs a basic science research laboratory that studies the molecular control of cardiac development and its relevance to cardiac regeneration following injury.
As a surgeon-scientist himself, Dr. Subramanyan has a strong interest in bridging the gap between clinical specialists and basic scientists. To that end, he directs a physician-scientist training program at USC that provides a pathway for physicians to spend dedicated time obtaining basic science research experience and additional graduate training, such as a PhD. He also directs the resident research program in the department of surgery at USC. He directs a graduate course on the clinical perspectives of regenerative medicine, which offers graduate students studying regenerative medicine a peek into the day-to-day problems that clinicians face and how regenerative biology research at the bench can offer novel solutions to the bedside.
Having navigated through the complex mesh of establishing a career as a surgeon-scientist, Dr. Subramanyan will discuss lessons learned from his path that can help others interested in such a career also be successful.
