The Careers and Professional Activities of Graduates
of the NIGMS Medical Scientist Training Program
September 1998

Background

Previous studies have consistently demonstrated the success of MSTP graduates in pursuing careers in academic medicine and research. In his review, Martin¹⁰  found that more than 90 percent of the MSTP graduates from the eight programs surveyed who had completed postgraduate training had obtained positions in academia or research institutes (among the programs publishing their own studies, the proportion ranged from 74 percent⁷  to 95 percent⁹). This is consistent with the results from a survey of early MSTP graduates.⁵  Of those graduates who entered academia, the available information suggests that a large majority hold appointments in clinical departments, and most have clinical responsibilities.

MSTP graduates have also been shown to be active in research and successful in obtaining NIH support for these efforts. The estimated proportion of graduates entering research careers ranges from 74 percent (reported in the NRC/AAMC study) to virtually all graduates surveyed in some of the studies conducted by individual MSTP institutions. In the NRC/AAMC study, MSTP graduates and comparison groups of M.D.s who had received other forms of NIH training support all had high rates of success in obtaining NIH research support. However, MSTP graduates were more likely than other groups to apply for funding in the first place.

In a small number of studies, an attempt was made to characterize the type of research conducted by MSTP graduates and comparison groups of physician-investigators. The NRC/AAMC study found that MSTP graduates were less likely than other groups of physician-investigators to publish in journals containing high proportions of clinical observations and clinical studies. Based on a sample of 82 MSTP graduates from three research-oriented medical schools, Ahrens also concluded that the majority of their publications focused on non-clinical research rather than clinical or patient-oriented topics.¹¹  More recently, Sutton and Killian found that applications for NIH research grants submitted by MSTP graduates were as likely to be classified as "laboratory research" as were proposals from applicants who had received only the Ph.D. degree.¹²

Different definitions have been used to distinguish clinical from non-clinical or laboratory research in these studies. The inclusion of human subjects is sometimes among the criteria used to make this distinction. For example, in the study by Sutton and Killian, clinical and laboratory research grant applications were distinguished using a definition of patient-oriented research developed by the NIH Division of Research Grants Clinical Research Study Group. One of the criteria in this definition is the inclusion of human subjects. While laboratory research projects do not meet this definition of clinical research, they nevertheless may have varying degrees of clinical relevance. In this study, indicators are used that might reveal these distinctions.