Perspectives on the Clinician-Scientist Pathway: A Survey of Cardiology Fellows

In recent decades, it has become increasingly difficult to attract medical trainees to the clinician-scientist pathway. Several measures have been undertaken to increase the number of clinician-scientists, but the anticipated results have not been obtained.1 In many ways, the clinician-scientist can be considered an “endangered species.”2 To promote this career path, there is increasing interest in some specialties in developing training programs that would encourage medical students to pursue research by increasing their exposure to research early in their training.3 Our study sought to examine cardiology fellows’ perceptions of the clinician-scientist career path, and their ideas on how to promote it.