This application seeks funding for a one and a half day mentoring symposium entitled How to Combine Clinical and Research Careers in Neuroscience (CCRCN). The program is sponsored by the Association of University Professors of Neurology (AUPN) (www.aupn.org), together with the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), the American Neurological Association (ANA) and the Child Neurology Society (CNS). The AUPN is the professional organization for Chairs of Neurology Departments, or Divisions, in accredited medical schools in the United States. Its goal is excellence in the care of patients with neurological disease by providing superior education to neurology trainees and by expanding knowledge about neurologic diseases. Two other professional organizations, the American Neurological Association (ANA) and The Child Neurology Society (CNS), share AUPN's and NINDS' concerns regarding the decline in the number of clinician-scientists, and have joined AUPN and NINDS financially supporting the CCRCN. The CCRCN symposium was first offered in 2003 by the AUPN and NINDS to meet the urgent need for more clinician-scientists, specifically in neurology. In 2005, JAMA reported that less than 2% of all physicians are scientists and, despite increases in research activity and funding, this number continues to drop. When this program began in 2003, the trend showed two decades of increasing biomedical research funding but an alarming 22% decrease in the clinician-scientist workforce; studies showed that more than a third of medical school graduates with MD/PhD do not realize their original goal of becoming active clinician-scientists.
The specific aims for this symposium are to: 1) encourage medical students with neuroscience research training to pursue clinical training (with special emphasis on neurology); 2) describe and discuss strategies for successfully melding clinical and research careers; 3) discuss the satisfactions and power of a combined research and clinical career; 4) describe and discuss sources of, and strategies for, obtaining long term training and research support; and 5) provide an opportunity for students to meet and network with academicians who have successfully combined clinical and research careers in neuroscience. Medical students who may be candidates for combined research and clinical careers in the neurosciences are invited to apply to attend this meeting. The ideal candidate will have completed preclinical training and at least one additional year of neuroscience research training. Further consideration is given to students who have completed some required clinical clerkships, as this is the time when many students will be thinking about further clinical training. This symposium is highly relevant to the mission of NINDS, which is to reduce the burden of neurological disease. This laudable goal is directly supported by the CCRCN which strives to increase the number of well-trained clinician-scientists working to find treatments, and even cures, for neurological diseases.
This application seeks NIH funds to support a clinician-scientist mentoring symposium entitled 'How to Combine Clinical and Research Careers in Neuroscience' offered by the Association of University Professors of Neurology (AUPN) (www.aupn.org) together with the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), the American Neurological Association (ANA) and the Child Neurology Society (CNS). The funds will be used to develop and implement a symposium designed to enhance the knowledge and skills of selected students who may be candidates for combined research and clinical careers in the neurosciences.
