The Career of the Clinical Investigator: Quo Vadis?

TY - JOUR

T1 - The Career of the Clinical Investigator

T2 - Quo Vadis?

AU - Nath, Karl A

AU - Garovic, Vesna D.

N1 - Funding Information: At Mayo Clinic, the CITP may appoint trainees to residency and fellowship programs (eg, Internal Medicine, Surgery, and others) in the Mayo Clinic School of Graduate Medical Education, the latter being among the largest such programs in the world. G1 residents are notified of the CITP after their arrival at Mayo Clinic for residency training; the CITP is advertised to fourth-year medical students during their application for residency in Internal Medicine at Mayo Clinic. Applications to the CITP are submitted in the G2 to G5 year of residency. The selection is based on (1) the strength of the applicant and mentor, (2) the research training described by a succinct proposal, (3) the support from residency program directors and the mentors, and (4) an interview process with the leadership of the CITP. In Internal Medicine, another entry point to the CITP exists during residency application by fourth-year medical students. For such applicants, who are also committed to a research career and a specific subspecialty fellowship at this stage, dedicated CITP slots provide for a meritorious applicant a single appointment that guarantees Internal Medicine residency, 2 years of dedicated research training, and fellowship training. Research is broadly considered and supported by the CITP, provided the research is significant and rigorous and there are qualified and committed mentors. The CITP appointments involve research that spans basic biomedical sciences research, disease-model research, patient-oriented research, clinical trial research, epidemiology, and outcome-based research. An analysis of outcomes of trainees in the CITP as regards research productivity and funding showed that such outcomes were favorable compared with other research pathways. 9 Funding Information: Since its inception, the CITP at Mayo Clinic has been supported by intramural funds. However, the pool of potential research-oriented applicants in the Mayo Clinic School of Graduate Medical Education is increasing and is driven in large part by Mayo Clinic’s initiative in stimulating research undertaken by residents and in recruiting research-oriented residents; an additional program was thus sought to fulfill this need. The NIH R38 StARR program resembles the Mayo Clinic CITP in its vision, mission, mentor-based design, and support of research during residency; like the CITP, the StARR program introduces and supports research training for “late bloomers.” Mayo Clinic recently received a StARR Award (2020 to 2024). Since the beginning of the StARR program at Mayo Clinic, 8 residents have been appointed by the StARR program and are from such diverse departments and divisions as Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Disease, Hematology, General Surgery, Cardiothoracic Surgery, and Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine. Research projects include the relationship between metabolic and pulmonary dysfunction; clinical management of cardiac sarcoma; cause of death in patients with POEMS syndrome; neutrophil extracellular traps and venous thromboembolism; artificial intelligence–enhanced electrocardiography and its application in wearable/portable devices; clinical outcomes in congenital cardiac surgery; clinical utility of MASS-FIX for the detection of monoclonal proteins and light-chain N-glycosylation in plasma cell disorders; and artificial intelligence–enabled electrocardiography for the diagnosis of congenital heart diseases in the pediatric population. A recent analysis of StARR programs by the National R38 Consortium Investigators attests to favorable outcomes. 10

PY - 2023/4

Y1 - 2023/4

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85151371783&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85151371783&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.mayocp.2023.02.006

DO - 10.1016/j.mayocp.2023.02.006

M3 - Short survey

C2 - 37019513

AN - SCOPUS:85151371783

SN - 0025-6196

VL - 98

SP - 509

EP - 512

JO - Mayo Clinic Proceedings

JF - Mayo Clinic Proceedings

IS - 4

ER -