Physician-Scientist Track
This pathway prepares residents for the role of physician-scientist by emphasizing basic science research during pathology training in the context of an AP or CP only training pathway.
Residents complete PGYs 1 and 2 for the AP or CP track in which they are enrolled, with an additional six months of subspecialty training. For residents demonstrating satisfactory performance in PGYs 1 and 2, who demonstrate a strong interest and potential for success in basic science research and have received evaluations that attest to their excellence, the final six months of the third year and beyond will consist of a full-fledged post-doctoral research fellowship. The goal of this training experience is to prepare residents for entry level faculty positions as physician-scientists in pathology. The Department of Pathology will provide 2 years of full salary support to allow trainees to develop a significant body of original work and to undergo the transition from post-doctoral fellow to independent faculty member. Generally, this training experience will require more than 2 years of scientific training.
We anticipate that residents will compete successfully for research funding to continue to support these activities. Importantly, residents who are admitted to this pathway may choose to train in ANY high quality laboratory at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, neighboring Harvard Teaching Hospitals, MIT and others. Through a mentoring relationship with physician-scientists and clinicians in our department, we will develop a program to optimize resident development, integrate clinical and research activities, position residents for future funding opportunities, and transition residents to independence. We anticipate that some highly accomplished graduates of this program will be recruited as future faculty members in our department.
Early during the course of research fellowship training we will help residents develop a plan leading to acquisition of NIH K08 or K23 awards and introduce them to other opportunities to further their development as investigators including such programs as the National Cancer Institute Clinical Investigator Development Program, the BIDMC-based Clinical Investigator Training Program, and the KL2 Merit Award for Young Investigators through the Harvard Clinical/Translational Science Center (www.catalyst.harvard.edu).
