Declines in the numbers of physicians pursuing careers in patient-oriented research have raised national concerns about an impending crisis in public health care. While numerous medical fields are affected, the problem in psychiatry is particularly acute, with projected shortages prompting an analysis of the problem by the Institute of Medicine. Ironically, shortages of psychiatrists pursuing patient-oriented research careers occur at a time when discoveries in the fields of genetics and neuroscience are having an unprecedented impact on our understanding of behavior. Translating such basic science insights into discoveries in the patient-care realm will ne crucial for improving out understanding and treatment of several mental illnesses. The current R25 renewal is intended to further address the current crisis in mental heath research education through several specific aims, aims that build upon prior success of the past 10 years. These include 1) continuing to educate psychiatry residents under established (?traditional?) model of Intergrated Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Training (IMPORT), 2) building upon this model through the addition of a modified (?early immersion?) track that is designed to better accommodate trainees with greater research experience and respond to increasingly complex translational research methods, and 3) augmenting both models by the addition of early (PG1) elective time, mentoring committees, educational experiences in grant writing (including opportunities for securing pilot funding), and enhanced recruitment. If successfully renewed, the program will continue to benefit the nation, through the increased identification, recruitment and retention of a highly skilled cadre of patient-oriented psychiatric physician scientists, and by piloting and implementing a flexible, individualized model of research education for psychiatry residency programs nationally.
Fewer physicians are pursuing careers in patient-oriented research, a worrisome trend for the public?s future health. Such shortages are especially severe in psychiatry. Ironically, these shortages occur at a time when we know more about the brain and genetic basis of human behavior. The primary purpose of the current grant is to help reverse these trends by creating a program of research education that will encourage psychiatry residents to consider a research career and provide them with protected time during their training so that they can start a successful research career.
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