Pathways to Physician Scientist Careers in Family Medicine

Physician-scientists are an essential part of the medical research enterprise, but are underrepresented in the specialty of Family Medicine. The capacity to build an evidence base informed by the needs of a particular specialty is an essential role of researchers in academic departments at schools of medicine. When the number of primary care researchers is limited, research on critical health care issues specific to primary care will also be limited. Well-established pathways for the successful cultivation of physician researchers include the identification and recruitment of aspiring researchers at the college and medical school levels. Major investments in their training are needed to support them over significant periods of time, including through research-oriented residency tracks, focused fellowships, and rigorous mentored career development awards lasting well into the first decade of a postresidency career. Successful models for pieces of this pathway are present in some departments of family medicine but should be enhanced in a systematic manner, and need to be established in a much greater number of departments. Disseminating this model of the physician-scientist pathway across academic departments will be necessary to significantly expand the number of successful family medicine physician-scientists.