Omaha and Portland, USA

Author Affiliations: Department of Pediatrics, Creighton University School of Medicine, Omaha, Nebraska, USA (Roth KS); Department of Pediatrics, University of Vermont, Barbara Bush Children's Hospital, Maine Medical Center, Portland, Maine, USA (Chan JCM); Department of Pediatrics, University of Nebraska, Omaha, Nebraska, USA (Buehler B)

Corresponding Author: James C Chan, MD, Maine Medical Center, Department of Pediatrics, 22 Bramhall St, Portland, Maine 04102-3175, USA (Tel: +1-207-662-2439; Fax: +1-207-662-6272; Email: chanj@mmc.org)

Over the past two decades, it has become apparent that diminishing numbers of young American medical graduates engage in clinical research activities. Many publications have analyzed the causes for and addressed the means by which this trend can be reversed. The National Institutes of Health have put into place several mechanisms to encourage young physicians to become physician-scientists. However, virtually no attention has been given to older physicians who might be so inclined. In this paper we suggest two innovative means by which to enable senior faculty to retrain and actively engage in fruitful clinical research and mentoring of medical students and young physicians. In addition, we suggest a more modest option by which senior faculty may obtain career stimulus when department and/or institutional resources are extremely limited.

Key words: faculty development; clinical research; training

                                    World J Pediatr 2007;3(3):165-169