THE MD-PHD RESEARCHER - WHAT SPECIES OF INVESTIGATOR

Though MD-PhD programs have grown rapidly since their introduction in the mid-1960s, and are widely regarded as fostering excellent young in vestigators and future leaders in research and academic medicine, the types of research careers their, graduates can be expected to pursue h ave been a point of some confusion. Some regard MD-PhD programs as a f lexible approach to scientific training, producing both basic scientis ts and clinical investigators, while others tend to view these program s as generating either one type of researcher or the other. This range of expectations associated with dual-degree programs and their gradua tes has perplexed observers over the years and complicated the efforts of planners and policymakers in projecting workforce needs and genera ting recommendations for research training. To learn more about the re search careers of MD-PhDs and how these investigators fit into the lar ger biomedical research workforce, the authors undertook a review of t he types of research proposed by dual-degree and other investigators i n 12,116 applications to the National Institutes of Health in 1993 and 1994. In comparing the types of research projects proposed by investi gators of various degree types (MDs, MD-PhDs, and PhDs) the authors fo und that the research interests of the MD-PhDs studied were more close ly aligned with the laboratory pursuits of most of their PhD counterpa rts than with the more clinically-oriented endeavors of thee with the MD degree alone. During a time when there are persistent concerns abou t a shortage of investigators to conduct clinical research and growing fears that America's universities may De producing more PhDs than can be meaningfully emloyed in the scientific enterprise, the authors' fi nding indicates a need for future workforce planning to better reflect the respective roles Flayed by MDs, MD-PhDs, and PhDs in biomedical a nd behavioral research.